Reading Important Essay

1. Reading is fundamental to function in today’s society. There are many adults who cannot read well enough to understand the instructions on a medicine bottle. That is a scary thought especially for their children. Filling out applications becomes impossible without help. Reading road or warning signs is difficult. Even following a map becomes a chore. 2. Reading is a vital skill in finding a good job. 3. Reading develops the mind. 4. Reading is how we discover new things. 5. Reading develops the imagination. 6. Reading develops the creative side of people. 7. Reading is key in developing a good self image. Non-readers or poor readers often have low opinions of themselves and their abilities. 8. Good reading skills improve spelling. 9. Ideas written down have changed the destiny of men and nations. 10. The power of written ideas communicated through reading is a foundational reason why some governments oppose free and honest communication. Illiterate people are easier to control and manipulate. They cannot do their own research and thinking. They must rely on what they are told. Words are the building blocks of life. You are, right now, the result of words that you have heard or read and believed. What you become in the future will depend on the words you believe about yourself now. People, families, relationships, and even nations are built from words. Think about it. Why is Writing Important? It seems like a silly question, but it is very important to be able to express yourself well. Our writings precede us, or introduce us. For example, when we apply for a job or to enroll in a school, we need to submit a resume and sometimes a cover letter, or when sending e-mails to someone we don’t actually know well or haven’t met yet (work partners, customers, or even responding on behalf of the company you work for). If we make a bad (or illegible) impression, the outcome for us may not be favorable. Poor writing may cost a lot; it may lead to misunderstanding and misconstruing due to sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and spelling problems. We need to write well for the following reasons: To translate, communicate, and materialize our ideas and thoughts into accessible documents that are useful to ourselves and others – To report our work in informative, concise, and professional formats Another important reason is that when writing, we are sending a message to our readers about who we are. Therefore, we need to be clear, focused, and accurate so as not to be misunderstood, underestimated, or ignored.

Things that affect the human body and attack its defence systems

There are many things that affect the human body and attack its defence systems,they can be naturally occouring in the environment or self inflicted or caused by societys pollution of our planet. Below are some conditions, with the effects that they cause to the human body and its defence mechanisms. Alcohol consumption is a health issue which affects the vast majority. A great many people drink alcohol regularly. Although they may not be alcoholic in the sense of being addicted to alcohol, they neverthelesss expose themselves to health risks. The alcohol in wines, beers and spirits is a depressant of the central nervous system. Small amounts gives a sense of well-being, with a realease from anxiety. However, this is accompanied by a fall-of in performance in any activity requiring skill. It also gives a misleading sense of confidence. The drunken driver usually thinks he or she is driving very well. Even a small amount of alcohol in the blood increases our reaction time. In some people, the reaction time is doubled even when the alcohol in the blood is well below the legal limit laid down for car drivers. This can make a big differenece in the time needed for a driver to apply the brakes after seeing a hazard. Read this Ch. 22 Respiratory System Alcohol reduces inhibitations and it can lead to irresponsible behaviour such as vandalism and aggression. Alcohol causes vaso-dilation in the skin, giving sense of warmth but in fact leading to a greater loss of body heat. A concentration of 500mg of alcohol in 100 cubic cm of blood results unconsciousness. More than this will kill, by stopping the action of the breathing centre in the brain. High doses of alcohol can harm virtually every organ in humans body. Many of these effects are reversible with abstinence, others are not. (2) Esophagus. Alcohol is associated with nearly half of the cancers of the esophagus, mouth, and larynx. Peole who vomit too intensely after getting drunk can cause tears in their esophagus. Brain. Alcohol depresses the central nervous system and contracts brain tissue. It destroys brain cells – which unlike many other types of cells in the body, do not regenerate. Taken in large amounts over a long period of time, alcohol can cause serious problems with cognition and memory. Heart. Heavy drinking can cause heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and heart failure. Even social drinkers who binge on special occasions can sometimes get bouts of irregular heartbeats. Lungs. Heavy drinkers have more pulmonary infections and can be more susceptible to pneumonia and lung collapse. As intoxicated person loses his reflexses and can't clear his airway when he vomits. Stomach contents may get sucked into the lungs, which can lead to choking or pneumonia. Liver. Liver damage often begins with a fatty liver, and may progress to alcoholic hepatitis. That may be followed by the buidup of scar tissue known as cirrhosis. Cirrhosis can change the structure of the liver and choke off blood flow. This can cause varicose veins, which can rupture, triggering catastrophic bleeding. Stomach. Alcohol irritates the stomach, and can cause gastritis, ulcers and acid reflux. Gastritis is an inflamation of the mucous membrane that lines the stomach. Erosion in that lining can cause constant oozing of blood into the stomach or, if a vessel ruptures, major bleeding. Kidneys. Alcohol is a diuretic that increases urine output. Prolonged heavy drinking can cause kidney failure. Small intestines ; pancreas. Alcohol blocks the absorption and breakdown of nutrients by damaging the cells lining the stomach and intestines, and by decreasing the amount of digestive enzymes secreted by the pancreas. The pancreas can become inflamed and leak digestive enzymes, which then attackthe pancreas itself. Reproductive system. In men, it impairs the production of sperm and testosterone, and can lead to interfility and impotance. In women, the effect can be decreased estrogen metabolism in the liver which increases the amount of estrogen circulating the body, which can contribute to menstrual irregularities and even interfility. Blood. Prolonged alcohol abuse can cause anemias and abnormal blood clotting, which results in excessive bleeding and easy bruising. It also impairs the functionof white blood cells, increasing susceptibility to infection. Joints ; muscles. Alcohol dependence can cause osteoporosis ; arthritis, and deform the joints. It can atrphy muscles and cause acute muscle pain and weakness. Skin. Alcohol causes the small blood vessels in the skin to dilate(open), which results in a rush of warm blood to the surface. This makes the skin look flushed and gives the person a false feeling of â€Å"being hot†. (13) Heavy drinking during pregnancy can lead to deformed babies. Alcohol can cross the placenta and damage the foetus. Pregnant women who take as little as one alcoholic drink a day are at risk of having babies with lower than average birth weights. These under-weight babies are more likely to become ill. All levels of drinking are thought to increase the risk of miscariage. (1) The affects of alcohol vary with different people. Alcohol is a drug and must be handled with care. Knowing its uses and abuses is just imporatnt as reading the instructions on a bottle of pills. It is basic preventive medicine to know how your body handlers alcohol, how much is safe to drink, and, finally, how your body gets rid of it. When people drink small of alcohol enters directly into bloodstream through the lining of the mouth and throat. The remaining amount of alcohol is absorbed by the stomach or intestine. At this point the alcohol is then dispersed uniformly throughout the body. Its effects are similar to ether or chloroform, affecting all part of the body controlled by the brain. The ability to make appropriate judgements and to exercise self-control is affected. Alcohol must be broken down in order to leave the system. More than 90 percent of the alcohol is oxidized in the liver and the remainder is discharged through the lungs and kidneys. It takes just as long for the experienced drinker to eliminate alcohol as it does for the inexperienced drinker. (15) Ultraviolet light is a part of the light spectrum that is invisible to the human eye. Part of sunlight is UV light, which creates warmth, light, photosynthesis in plants, and vitamin D synthesis in the body. The sun produces about three types of UV lights: UVA, UVB, UVC. The ozone layer filters out UVC. UVA, however, has a long wavelenght light, so a certain amount reaches the earth's surface. UVA is the predominant light to reach earth. UVA causes damage to cellular membranes and DNA, and has been implicated in ageing of the skin and the development of skin cancer. Scientists believe it is UVB lights that are the paramount cause of premature ageing of skin, sunburn, skin cancers and other skin problems, despite the fact that UVB lights constitute for only 1% of UV lights that reach our skin. (4) UV light is beneficial for people and essential in the production of vitamin D, which is absorbed into the bloodstream and nourishes and helps to maintain bone tissue. Also UV light activates the pigment melanin in the skin, and thereby creates a tan. Many people feel better when they have a tan, as it gives a healthy appearance. It is also used to treat several diseases, including rickets, psoriasis, eczema and jaundice. This takes place under medical supervision and the benefits of treatment versus the risk of UV light exposure are matter of clinical judgement. Ultraviolet light can be harmful to humans. Prolonged human exposure to UV light may result in acute and chronic health effects on the skin, eye and immune system. (3) Sunburn (erythema) is the best known acute effect of excessive UV light exposure. Over the longer term, UV light induces degenerative changes in the cells of the skin, fibrous tissues and blood vessels leading to premature skin ageing, photodamage and actinic keratoses. Sun-damaged skin develops a thickened epidermis. This is caused by faster cell renewal, which is part of the immediate defence mechanism of the skin. The epidermis will return to normal provided the skin is not repeatedly over- exposed. Constant exposure to sunlight causes the melanocytes to become chronically over-active, resulting areas of excessive melanin in the skin. Eventually, areas of damaged skin made up of increased numbers of melanocytes and increased melanin synthesis develop. Up to around 85% of the overall appearance of ageing makes photoageing. It is a slow process and proceeds for several decates before it becomes obvious. The degree of photoageing is determined by the skin type and by the total lifetime sun exposure. People who spend their lives almost entirely indooors show very little skin damage. The degree of damage to tissues in different regions of the body is directly propotional to the amount of sunlight received. In chronically sun-damaged skin the epidermis as a whole becomes thicker, and loses some of its undulations. This is probably because marginally more daugter cells are produced by the basal layer, and produced more quickly. The effect is that the spiny layer and the dranular layer thicken up. The speed at which cells are replaced slows down, and some of the function of skin, including controlling water loss, may become less efficient. There is less elasticity and increased fragility. Skin becomes dry, flaky and less reflective of light. As photoageing begins, the small blood capillaries in the dermis decrease in number and the remaining blood vessels become tortous and dilated. The elastic fibres degenerate, producing a thickened mass that replaces the collagen. Seriously photoaged skin is dry, deeply wrinkled, yellow and rough. It may be marked with darkly pigmented or whitish spots, which respectively show where levels of pigment are higher or lower than normal. With increasing sun damage small blood vessels in the dermis will become more obvious and will form the red, finely branching, spider-like marks (â€Å"broken veins†). These blood vessels are easily damaged, resulting in greater fragility of the skin, with the development of spots. Loss of elastic fibres around the blood vessels of the lower lips and ears – areas especially sensitive to chronic sun damage – may result in dilated veins. On the other hand, in protected skin the vessels tend not to be so dilated or damaged. As its worst, skin that has been over-exposed to the sun for many years looks like old leather. Constant exposure to UV light over many years can result in warty spots on the skin, called actinic keratoses. The appearance of actinic keratoses means that the skin has received far too much sun and could develop a skin cancer eventually. (4) There are three main types of cancer: Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer. The skin is formed of three layers. The deepest, the subcutaneous layer, is composed of fat and connective tissue and connects the skin to the underlying muscle. Above that is the dermis, the layer that containssweat glands, oil glands, and other structures of the skin. The third layer, on the surface is called the epidermis; it is there that most skin cancers arise. Basal cell carcinomas arise in the lowest of the epidermis, the basal cell layer. This type of cancer can have many different appearances: a red patch or irritated area; a small, pink pearly bump, a white or yellow scar-like area; a smooth growth with a dent in the center, or an open sore that bleeds or oozes. Basal cell carcinomas rarely spread throughout the body and death from them very rare; however, because they often occur on the face, their locally destructive effects can result in serious cosmetic deformity if not diagnosed and treated early. Squamous cell carcinoma arise from the upper levels of the epidermis, usually on places that have been exposed to the sun. Squamous cell carcinomas are most commonly found on the ears, the face, and the mouth. This type of skin cancer often arises from a precancerous lesion known as an actinic keratosis, a type of lesion that appears as a rough, flat pink spot. If the lesion becomes cancerous, it's usually raised above the normal skin surface and is firmer to the touch. Squamous cell tumour tend to be more aggresive than basal cell tumours, and are slightly more likely to spread to other parts of the body. Melanoma, the most serious form of cancer, is not as common as the other two major types of skin cancer (basal cell and squamous cell cardinomas). Melanoma begins in melanocytes, the cells in the epidermal layer of the skin that produce the pigment melanin. Melanin in normal melanocytes produces â€Å"tan† skin as a response to damage from UV light. Melanoma can arise by several routes. Sometimes it arises directly from a melanocyte. Sometimes, the melanocyte first turns into a normal mole or irregular mole, and then becomes cancerous. Melanocytes can also be found in the eye and internal organs, where they also become cancerous on occasion. Melanomas are cancerous, but the large majority do not spread right away. Many begins as a â€Å"melanoma in situ†. During that stage, the growth does not venture beyond the very most superficial layer of skin, the epidermis. In a second stage, melanoma can penetrate the lower layer of the skin, the dermis. If the melanoma penetrates very deeply into the dermis, it may progress to a vertical growth phase – in which it can metastasize, or spread throughout body. Melanoma more often shows up on the trunk of the body and on the arms and legs, it can develop on any part of the body – including those never exposed to the sun. 14) A large proportion of skin cancers can be prevented and, if not prevented, they are curable if recognised and treated when at early stage of development. UV can also damage the surface of the eye, called the cornea, and cause cataracts, macular degeneration, scarring on the cornea and skin cancer of the eyelids and area around the eye. UVB can cause a sunburn on the cornea, the clear membrane that covers the front of your eyes. Corneal sunburn, called photokerastitis, can occur after long hours at the beach or on the ski slopes without sunglasses or goggles. It is not permanent, but it can be painful and cause temporary vision loss. Sun damage can also cause scars on the surface of the eye, called pinquecula, which are raised, yellowish, benings lumps that grow near the nose. These can be removed wity surgery. (8) More serious effects of UV are cataracts and macular degeneration. Cataracts – the clouding of the lens of the eye, the number one cause of reversible blindness – and macular degeneration are the leading causes of decreased vision among people older then 60. Cataracts can be treated with surgery. The UV damage to the eye is cumulative and much of it is preventable by wearing quality sunglasses or contact lenses to make sure they block UV light. They are a sunscreen for our eyes. (10) All people regardless of skin pigmentation, are susceptible to damage to their immune system as a result of UV light. The absorbtion of UV light leads to immunosuppresion. As UV light are absorbed by a human being, there is a decreased immune response. This reaction is favourable because there is no excessive swelling and damage to the skin as result of sun exposure. The drawback of decreased immune response is that when infection diseases do attack the body, a significant forceful immune reaction is needed. As a result, cancer often developes and spreads in the body because the immune systems has not the strenght to fight it due its suppresion by damage UV light. Other immune system damage is seen in the form of skin hypersensitivity and reactions to certain medications. UV light is very dangerous to the human immune system and should be avoided to prevent cancer and other infectious, life-threatening diseases. (16) Cold injuries result from overxposure to cold air or water and occur in two major forms: localised injuries (such as frostbite) and systemic injuries (such as hypothermia). (4) The risk of serious cold injuries, especially hyporthermia, is increased by youth, lack of insulating body fat, wet or inadequate clothing, old age, drug abuse, cardiac disease, smoking, fatigue, hunger and depletion of caloric reserves, and excessive alcohol intake (which draws blood into capilaries and away from body organs). (1) Frostbite is a medical condition that can happen to anyone. It is when the skin and/or tissue under the skin freezes and causes cell damage. This is caused by exposure to cold, either through the air or through a chemical exposure. When people are exposed to cold with the extremities including their feet, hands, nose, ears, and face being at the highest risk, the blood vessels constrict. This is a natural reaction to prevent body heat loss and hyporthermia. With the loss of warming blood flow the fluid within cells and tissues start to freeze forming ice crystals. These ice crystals take up more room within the cells then when in a fluid state, and cause the cells to rupture. Also, sudden warming can cause the cells rupture. Under extreme conditions frostbite can occur in seconds. Factors like wind chill, alcohol consumption, getting wet or being damp and how long you are exposed to the cold all impact how quickly and how severe frostbite can be. The elderly, young children, people with circulation disorders, and people from tropical climates have a higher risk factor of getting frostbite. People who have had previous cold injuries are also particularly at risk of getting injuries again in the same places. Frostbite comes in three levels of severity or degrees: *First degree, also called frost nip. It presents itself as numbed skin that has turned white in colour. The skin may feel stiff to the touch, but the tissue under is still warm and soft. There is very little chance of blistering, infection or permanent scarring as long as it is treated properly. *Second degree, superficial frostbite. It is a serious medical condition that needs to be treated by a trained medical professional. The skin will be white or blue and will feel hard or frozen. The tissue underneath is still undamaged. Blistering is likely which is why medical treatment should be sought out. Proper treatment is critical to prevent severe or permanent injuries. *Third degree, deep frostbite. The skin is white, blotchy and/or blue. The tissue underneath is hard and cold to the touch. This is a life threatening injury. Deep frostbite needs to be treated by a trained medical professional. The tissue underneath has been damaged, in severe cases amputation may be the final resource to prevent severe infection. Blistering will happen. Proper medical treatment in a medical facility with personnel trained to deal with severe frostbite injuries is required to aid in the prevention of severe or permanent injury. (9) Prevention of frostbite is actually very simple and for the most part is based on common sense. Hypothermia is heat loss at the body core, and it results from exposure to cold with the addition of other heat loss mechanisms. A healthy person's body temperature can fluctuate between 36. 1 degrees and 37. 8 degrees. Hypothermia is considered to begin once the body temperature reaches 35 degrees, thought even smaller drops in temperature can have an adverse effects. Hypothermia is divided into two types: primary and secondary. Primary hypothermia occurs when the body's heat-balancing mechanisms are working properly but are subjected to extreme cold, whereas secondary hypothermia affects people whose heat-balancing mechanisms are impaired in some way and cannot respond adequtely to moderate or perhaps even mild cold. Primary hypothermia typically involves exposure to cold air or immension in cold water. The cold air variety usually takes at least several hours to develop, but immersion hyporthermia will occur within about an hour of entering the water, since water draws heat away from the body much faster than air does. In secondary hyporthermia, the body's heat-balancing mechanisms can fail for any numbers of reasons, including strokes, diabetes, malnutrition, bacterial infection, thyroid disease, spinal cord injuries, and the use of medications and other substances that affect the brain or spinal cord. Alcohol is one such substance. In smaller amounts it can put people at risk by interfering with their ability to recognize and avoid cold-weather dangers. In larger amounts it shuts the body's heat-balancing mechanisms. Secondary hypothermia is often a threat to the elderly, who may be on medications or suffering from illnesses that affect their ability to conserve heat. Malnutrition and immobility can also put the elderly at risk. (12) The signs and symptomps of hypothermia follow a typical course, thought the body temperatures at which they occur vary from person to person depending on age, health, and other factors. The impact of hypothermia on the nervous system often becomes apparent quite early. Coordination may begin to suffer as soon as body temperature reaches 35 degrees. The early signs of hypothermia also include cold and pale skin and intensive shivering; the latter stops between 32. 2 and 30 degrees. As body temperature continues to fall, speech becomes slurred, the muscles go rigid, and the victim becomes disoriented and experiences eyesight problems. Other harmful consequences include dehydration as well as liver and kidney failure. Heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure rise during the first stages of hypothermia, but fall once the 32. 2 degrees mark is passed. Below 30 degrees most victims are comatose, and below 27. 8 degrees the heart's rhythm becomes dangerously disordered. Yet even at very low body temperatures, people can survive for several hours and be succesfully revived, thought they may be appear to be dead. (12) People who spend time outdoors in cold weather can reduce heat loss by wearing their clothing loosely and in layers and by keepimg their hands, feet, and head well covered. Because water draws heat away from the body so easily, staying dry is important. Alcohol should be avoided because it promotes heat loss by expanding the blood vessels that carry body blood to the skin. Alcohol consumption, exposure to ultra violet light and cold injurys have harmful effects on our body and its defence mechanisms. It affects virtually all areas of a person's life; socially, psychologically, physiologically and mentally. It can be easily avoided by using just a little common sense.

Diversification and Firm Performance

DIVERSIFICATION AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION Anil M. Pandya and Narendar V. Rao Abstract Diversification is a strategic option that many managers use to improve their firms’ performance. This interdisciplinary research attempts to verify whether firm level diversification has any impact on performance. The study finds that on average, diversified firms show better performance compared to undiversified firms on both risk and return dimensions. It also tests the robustness of these results by classifying firms by performance class.The results show that among the best performing class of firms, undiversified firms have higher returns, but these returns are accompanied by high variance. Whereas, highly diversified firms show lower returns, and much lower variance. Results further show that diversified firms perform better than undiversified firms on risk and return dimensions, in the low and average performance classes. The paper concludes that a dominant undivers ified firm may perform better than a highly diversified firm in terms of return but its riskiness will be much greater.If managers of such firms opt for diversification, their returns will decrease, but their riskiness will reduce proportionately more than the reduction in their returns. In such firms, there will be a tradeoff between risk and return. INTRODUCTION Two seemingly irreconcilable facts motivate this study: one, diversification continues to be an important strategy for corporate growth; and two, while Management and Marketing disciplines favor related diversification, Finance makes a strong case against corporate diversification.With the help of a large sample, this interdisciplinary study tries to address this contradiction in the associative relationship between diversification and firm performance. Diversification is a means by which a firm expands from its core business into other product markets (Aaker 1980, Andrews 1980, Berry 1975, Chandler 1962, Gluck 1985). Rese arch shows corporate management to be actively engaged in diversifying activities.Rumelt (1986) found that by 1974 only 14 percent of the Fortune 500 firms operated as single businesses and 86 percent operated as diversified businesses. Many researchers note a rise in diversified firms (Datta, Rajagopalan and Rasheed 1991, Hoskisson and Hitt 1990). European corporate managers according to a survey, not only favor it but actively pursue diversification (Kerin, Mahajan and Varadarajan 1990). Firms spend considerable sums acquiring other firms or bet heavily on internal R&D to diversify away from their core product/markets.Of late U. S. firms are beginning to moderate their zeal for diversification and are consolidating around their core businesses. But this trend has not affected large Asian corporations which continue to remain highly diversified. As in any economic activity there are costs and benefits associated with diversification, and ultimately, a firm's performance must depend on how managers achieve a balance between costs and benefits in each concrete case. Moreover, these benefits and costs may not fall equally on managers and investors.Management researchers argue that diversification prolongs the life of a firm. Researchers in finance argue diversification benefits managers because it buys them insurance, and shareholders usually bear all the costs of such insurance. Diversification can improve debt capacity, reduce the chances of bankruptcy by going into new product/ markets (Higgins and Schall 1975, Lewellen 1971), and improve asset deployment and profitability (Teece 1982, Williamson 1975).Skills developed in one business transferred to other businesses, can increase labor and capital productivity. A diversified firm can transfer funds from a cash surplus unit to a cash deficit unit without taxes or transaction costs (Bhide 1993). Diversified firms pool unsystematic risk and reduce the variability of operating cash flow and enjoy comparative adva ntage in hiring because key employees may have a greater sense of job security (Bhide 1993).These are some of the major benefits of diversification strategy. Diversification, firm size, and executive compensations are highly correlated, which may suggest that diversification provides benefits to managers that are unavailable to investors (Hoskisson and Hitt 1990), creating what economists call the agency problem (Fama 1980) and managers stand to lose if they become unemployed, either through poor firm performance or bankruptcy (Bhide 1993, Dutta, Rajagopalan and Rasheed 1991, Hoskisson and Hitt 1990).Diversification can also lead to the problem of moral hazard, the chance that people will alter behavior after entering into a contract-as in a conflict of interest by providing insurance for managers who have invested in firm specific skills, and have an interest in diversifying away a certain amount of firm specific risk and may look upon diversification as a form of compensation (Ami hud and Lev 1981, Bhide 1993).Although it may be necessary for a firm to reduce firm specific risk to build relations with suppliers and employees, only top managers can decide what is the right amount of diversification as insurance (Bhide 1993). Diversification can be expensive (Jones and Hill 1988, Porter 1985) and place considerable stress on top management (McDougall and Round 1984). These are the costs of diversification.In the final analysis, this situational argument regarding balancing costs and benefits can only explain the performance of individual firms but it cannot address the theoretical question about the veracity of diversification as a valid corporate strategy. Consequently, following the benefit-cost agreement, whether in general, diversification enhances firm performance becomes an empirical question. Further, recent reviews of the rather extensive literature do not find agreement about the direction of association between firm diversification and firm performanc e.This lack of a clear answer in the literature motivates the present study. The paper is organized in four sections. The first section briefly reviews the empirical literature and presents the research hypotheses. Section two describes the research methodology and operationalizes the dependent and independent variables. Section three presents the results of the study. The concluding section discusses the results and summarizes the findings. REVIEW OF EMPIRICAL LITERATURE AND HYPOTHESIS The impact of diversification on firm performance is mixed.Three recent reviewers (Datta, Rajagopalan and Rasheed 1991, Hoskisson and Hitt 1990, Kerin, Mahajan and Varadarajan 1990), broadly conclude: (a) the empirical evidence is inconclusive; (b) models, perspectives and results differ based on the disciplinary perspective chosen by the researcher; and  © the relationship between diversification and performance is complex and is affected by intervening and contingent variables such as related ver sus unrelated diversification, type of relatedness, the capability of top managers, industry structure, and the mode of diversification.Some studies claim diversifying into related product-markets produces higher returns than diversifying into unrelated product-markets and less diversified firms perform better than highly diversified firms (Christensen and Montgomery 1981, Keats 1990, Michel and Shaked 1984, Rumelt 1974, 1982, 1986). Some claim that the economies in integrating operations and core skills obtained in related diversification outweigh the costs of internal capital markets and the smaller variances in sales revenues generated by unrelated diversification (see Datta, Rajagopalan ; Rasheed 1991).While agreeing that related strategy is better than unrelated, Prahalad and Bettis (1986), clarify that it is the insight and the vision of the top managers in choosing the right strategy (how much and what kind of relatedness), rather than diversification per se, which is the key to successful diversification. Accordingly, it is not product-market diversity but the strategic logic that managers use that links firm diversification to performance; which implies that diversified firms without such logic may not perform as well.Markides and Williamson (1994) show that strategic relatedness is superior to market relatedness in predicting when diversifiers related outperform unrelated ones. Others however argue, it is not management conduct so much, but industry structure that governs firm performance (Christensen and Montgomery 1981, Montgomery 1985). Besides diversification types and industry structure, researchers have also looked at the ways firms diversify. Simmonds (1990) examined the combined effects of breadth (related vs. nrelated) and mode (internal R ; D versus Mergers ; Acquisitions) and found that relatedly diversified firms are better performers than unrelatedly diversified firms, and R ; D based product development is better than mergers and acquis ition- led diversification (Simmonds 1990, Lamont and Anderson 1985). Among studies of acquisitions the results are mixed. Some report that related acquisitions are better performers than unrelated ones (Kusewitt 1985), or there is no real difference among them (Montgomery and Singh 1984).Some studies on breadth and performance find relatedly diversified firms perform better than firms that are unrelatedly diversified (Rumelt 1974, 1982, 1986). Others show confounding effects in firm performance because of diversification category and industry (Christiansen and Montgomery 1981, Montgomery 1985). Recent studies suggest service firms should not diversify (Normann 1984), whereas, Nayyar (1993), shows that in the service industry diversification ased on information asymmetry is positively associated with performance, whereas diversification based on economies of scope is negatively associated with performance. A contradiction of Johnson and Thomas' (1987) confirmation of Rumelt's findin g that the appropriateness of product diversity is judged by a balance between economies of scope and diseconomies of scale. It also appears there is a limit on how much a firm can diversify; if a firm goes beyond this point its market value suffers and reduction in diversification by refocusing is associated with value creation (Markides 1992).Apart from the empirical evidence, the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) holds that competition among investors for information ensures that current prices of widely traded securities are the unbiased predictors of their future value, and that current prices represent the net present value of its future cash flow. Evidence supports the existence of weak, semi- and near-strong forms of market efficiency (Fama 1970). If this view of the market is true, then investors have the information necessary to construct portfolios of stocks to maximize their risk/return strategies for a given amount of resource.Consequently, a firm's management cannot do better for the investor by diversifying into different product markets and create a portfolio that will improve returns or better manage risk than investor’s stock portfolio. Stockholders also do not pay a premium for diversified firms (Brealey and Myers 1996); the market does not value risk/return trade-off positively for unrelated diversification (Lubatkin and O'Neil 1987), and acquiring firms only earn normal returns (Lehn and Mitchell 1993), and not economic rents.Finally, corporate takeovers discipline managers who waste shareholder resources and bust-ups promote economic efficiency by reallocating assets to higher valued uses or more efficient uses (Jensen and Ruback 1983, Lehn and Mitchell 1993). The review of empirical literature from Management/Marketing disciplines and the theoretical and empirical literature from Finance show that the relationship between diversification and performance is complex and is affected by intervening and contingent variables. Taken toge ther, the evidence and arguments presented above seems to suggest that diversified firms (i. . highly unrelatedly diversified firms) as a class, should perform less well than an optimal securities portfolio, and thus for our study we propose the following null hypothesis. Our null hypothesis (H0) is that: Highly diversified firms should perform less well than moderately diversified and single product firms. There are numerous arguments and findings against the null hypothesis proposed above. In certain markets, an investor may face assets constraint in constructing a portfolio, restricting diversification opportunities (Levy 1978).Farrelly, and Reichenstein (1984) show that total risk rather than systematic risk alone, better explains the expertly assessed risk of stocks. Jahera, Lloyd and Page (1987), find well-diversified firms have higher returns regardless of size. DeBondt and Thaler (1985, 1987), argue that the market as a whole overreacts to major events. Prices shoot up on go od economic news and decline sharply on bad news. According to Brown and Harlow (1988, 1993), investors hedge their bets and over react or under react to important news by pricing securities below their expected values.As uncertainties decrease, stock prices adjust upwards, regardless of the direction of the impact of the initial event. The post-event adjustment in prices tends to be greater in the case of bad news than in the case of good news. Haugen (1995) also casts doubts on the validity of the EMH. Finally, Fama and French (1992), changing their earlier stance, argue that the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) is incapable of describing the last fifty years of stock returns, and the beta is not an appropriate measure of risk.This implies that a stockholder may not be better positioned to diversify his portfolio of stocks as compared to a corporate manager as implied by the null hypothesis. On the basis of this discussion, we could argue that market inefficiency may not allow i nvestors to optimally allocate their resources. It can put managers, especially good ones, in a more advantageous position to diversify their product market portfolios and thereby improve firm performance. Thus, our alternate hypothesis (H1) is: that diversified firms perform better in terms of return and risk measures compared to less diversified firms.Thus, on average, diversified firms as a class should perform better than moderately diversified or single-product firms. STUDY DESIGN The availability of the Compustat database has made it possible to study a larger sample of firms over several years and approach the problem of diversification from a more macro perspective. The approach used in this study is akin to that of military historians who examine past battles and in the context of operational tactics conclude that combatants with greater orce (material and manpower) tend to win more often. Those with insufficient force need the advantage of mobility and surprise to neutrali ze superior force in order to win. These insights, based on outcomes of many battles, allow historians to disengage from contingencies and specificities of stewardship and terrain. This does not imply that situational specifics should be ignored in planning military campaigns. The finding only points out the general truth of certain tactics.Similarly, in the context of the conduct of business strategy, we could also first examine the performance of diversified firms without regard to specifics of strategy, like type, breadth, modality and industry, and figure out if in general, the average performance of diversified firms is better than that of undiversified firms. The diversification literature is unable to demonstrate that diversification type, breadth, modality, and industry have consistent and predictable impact on performance. We therefore treat these as situational contingencies and do not take them into account.Earlier studies of diversification use cross sectional data, smal l samples and single measures of performance. We on the other hand, examine a large sample of firms with data over a seven year period. We use about two thousand firms, and multiple performance measures. The starting point of our main study is 1984, the earliest data point for segment information available on the Compustat database. Specialization Ratio (revenue from a firm's largest segment divided by its total revenue) as the dependent variable measures the extent of diversification.Accounting and market returns, their variability, coefficient of variation, and the Sharpe Index are the independent performance variables. The study also tests the robustness of classification of firms based on SR ratios. For this part of the study, the data is available from 1981. It also tests the robustness of results based on the extent of performance and the degree of diversification. MEASUREMENT OF CONCEPTS Diversification is treated as the independent variable in this study. As a policy variabl e, managers can control the extent of diversification desired, and performance is the dependent variable.This section defines and operationalizes these concepts. Diversification This study uses Specialization Ratio (SR) to classify firms into three classes of diversification. Its logic reflects the importance of the firm's core product market to that of the rest of the firm (Rumelt, 1974, 1982; Shaikh ; Varadarajan, 1984). After we started this work some researchers have argued that the entropy measure of diversification is probably a better one. We leave it to future research to test the robustness of SR versus other measures of diversification.Operationally, SR is a ratio of the firm's annual revenues from its largest discrete, product-market activity to its total revenues. In the diversification literature, SR has been one of the methods of choice for measuring diversification. It is easy to understand and calculate. TABLE 1 Values of Specialization Ratios in Rumelt's and Our Cla ssification Schemes SR Values in Rumelt’s Scheme SR Values in Our Scheme Undiversified, Single Product Firms SR ? . 95 SR ? 0. 95 Moderately Diversified Firms 0. 95 ; SR ? 0. 7 0. 95 ; SR ? 0. 5 Highly Diversified Firms SR ; 0. 7 SR ; 0. 5 Performance Management researchers prefer accounting variables as performance measures such as return on equity (ROE), return on investment (ROI), and return on assets (ROA), along with their variability as measures of risk.Earlier studies typically measure accounting rates of return. These include: (ROI), return on capital (ROC), return on assets (ROA) and return on sales (ROS). The idea behind these measures is perhaps to evaluate managerial performance-how well is a firm's management using the assets (as measured in dollars) to generate accounting returns per dollar of investment, assets or sales. The problems with these measures are well known. Accounting returns include depreciation and inventory costs and affect the accurate reporting of earnings.Asset values are also recorded historically. Since accounting conventions make these variables unreliable, financial economists prefer market returns or discounted cash flows as measures of performance. For the sake of consistency, we use two accounting measures: ROE and ROA; along with market return to measure performance. Return on equity (ROE) is a frequently used variable in judging top management performance, and for making executive compensation decisions.We use ROE as a measure to judge performance and calculate the average return on equity (AROE) across all sampled firms and time periods, its standard deviation and also the coefficient of variation for each of the three diversification groups. ROE is defined as net income (income available to common stockholders) divided by stockholders equity. The coefficient of variation (CV) gives us the risk per unit of average return. ROA is the most frequently used performance measure in previous studies. It is defined as net income (income available to common stockholders), divided by the book value of total assets.We also calculate the average return on assets (AROA) across all sampled firms and time periods calculate its standard deviation and also the coefficient of variation for each of the three diversification groups. Market return (MKTRET), is the third dependent variable we use. MKTRET is computed for a calendar year by taking the difference between the current year's ending stock price, and the previous year's ending price, adding to it the dividends paid out for the year, and then dividing the result by the previous year's ending price.This study includes companies for which complete data to calculate the variances used is available on Compustat PC- Plus for the period 1984 through 1990. In addition, we calculate the average market return (AMKTRET) for each of the three groups, the standard deviation of AMKTRET, and the Sharpe Index (Sharpe, 1966), a commonly used risk-adjusted performance measure. It measures the risk premium earned per unit of risk exposure. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION As mentioned earlier, Table 1 presents comparison of breaks between Rumelt’s classification and the modified version.Using the Compustat database we then classified 2637 firms using Rumelt’s classification scheme for the years 1981-1990. Table 2 presents the AROE and its standard deviation using Rumelt’s classification. While we intended to calculate AROA and MKTRT for this data set we were unsuccessful because of the problem of missing data. The 1984 – 90 data set proved to be better and was used for the alternate classification scheme for all the three performance variables. Using the same Compustat database, we classified 2188 firms in three groups: Single Product Firms (SR ; 0. 5), Moderately Diversified Firms (0. 5 ? SR ? 0. 95), and Highly Diversified Firms (SR ; 0. 5), for each of the seven years, from 1984 to 1990, for which complete segmental data was available. We kept only those firms in the sample that remained in the same SR category for the entire seven year period, and had all the data for computing the variables. After classification, we calculated each of the three performance variables: return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA), and market return (MKTRET), for each firm in each of the three groups, for each year from 1984 to 1990.We also calculated the average ROE (AROE), average ROA (AROA), and average MKTRET (AMKTRET), first by averaging across the seven years for each firm, and then by averaging across firms by pooling across the years, along with their standard deviation, and coefficient of variation. Tables 3, 4 and 5 present the results. The number of firms in each performance group varies slightly because we had to ensure that the data was available for all variables, for all the seven years. Statistical ProcedureThe test of the null hypothesis requires a test of equality of means of each classification group , and for each performance variable. While the study may indicate one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), it is not a robust test. The application of ANOVA requires that the data set meet three critical assumptions: first, the test is extremely sensitive to departures from normality; second, the assumption of homogeneity of variance is necessary; and third, the errors should be independent of group mean.While for our study the first and the third assumptions checked out, the second assumption regarding the homogeneity of variance failed. We carried out Hartley's test of equality of variance for each performance variable. This test confirmed that variance of the three groups is unequal for each performance variable. We faced the Beherens-Fisher problem or checking for equality of means when variances of the underlying population are unequal. Such situations indicate Cochran's approximation test for hypotheses testing (Berenson and Levine 1992).This test requires us to test the null hyp othesis of equality of means, taken two at a time, and according to the test we must reject the null if the t (observed) exceeds t (critical) at chosen levels of significance. (Statistical information available from authors by request) TABLE 2 Performance Based on Rumelt's SR Classification Scheme: ROE-1981-1990 N AROE SD CV Undiversified Firms (SR ? 0. 95) 1663 3. 8 277. 73. 13 Moderately Diversified (. 95 < SR ? .7) 371 2. 3 181. 2 78. 78 Highly Diversified (SR < . 7) 603 9. 9 100. 9 10. 25 Results Classification Methods: Comparison and a Test of Robustness Table 1 compares the breaks in SR values. Table 2 reports the results using Rumelt's scheme with 1981-1990 data, and Table 3 reports the results using our scheme with 1984-1990 data.The first column in Table 2 shows the three categories of diversification based on SR values; N stands for the number of firms that remained in the same group for the period 1981-1990, and had performance data for the entire period under study; ARO E stands for the average of the ROE calculated over N firms; SD stands for the standard deviation of AROA; and CV represents the coefficient of variation, given by the ratio of SD divided by the AROE, representing the risk per unit average return. Tables 3 through 5 follow the same layout for ROE, TABLE 3 Performance As: Return On Equity (AROE)-1984-1990N AROE SD CV Undiversified 1844 -1. 6 323. 3 NA Moderately Diversified 315 32. 7 409. 4 12. 52 Highly Diversified 23 14. 6 9. 8 0. 67 N= Sample Size, AROE= Average Return on Equity, SD= Standard Deviation, CV= Coefficient of VariationROA and MKTRET. The highly diversified group in Table 2 has AROE of 9. , SD equal to 100. 9 and CV of 10. 25; the moderate group has AROE of 2. 3, SD equals 181. 2 and CV equals 78. 8. The Undiversified group AROE is 3. 8, SD 277. 9 and CV 73. 1. The highly diversified group has the highest AROE, the lowest Standard Deviation and the lowest Coefficient of variation. The results are in the expected direct ion. The results follow the expected path with the exception that AROE of the moderate group is less than that of the undiversified group but the mean values are not far apart and the difference is statistically insignificant.The result for the undiversified and the highly diversified groups are as expected. The SD values are also in the expected direction. Compare these results with results obtained in Table 3. Table 3 shows the relationship between the degree of diversification and group-wise performance measured by ROE. The sample consists of 1844 single product firms with SR greater or equal to 0. 95. The average ROE of these firms over the seven year period is -1. 6 percent, with a SD of 323. 3. The moderately diversified group with SR between 0. 95 and 0. , has 315 firms. The AROE of the group equals32. 7 percent and the SD equals 409. 4. While the AROE of this group is clearly superior to that of single productfirms, the group shows high ROE variability. Thus, the moderately diversified group shows an slightly improvedrisk-return profile. The third group with SR values of less than 0. 5, is the smallest, and includes only 23 firms. The average ROE of the group equals 14. 6 or about half that of the second group, with SD of 9. 8, which is much lower than the first and the second group.The CV is the lowest at 0. 67, which is about 1/20 of the moderate group. Table 3 shows that while highly diversified firms have lower risk than moderately diversified firms; moderately diversified firms have higher average ROE compared to highly diversified firms. It also shows that single product firms have lower risk than moderately diversified firms, but moderately diversified firms have much higher returns. When we combine the return and risk measures as given by the coefficient of variation CV, we do see consistent results, i. e. that highly diversified firms have better risk-return profile than moderately diversified firms; and moderately diversified firms perform be tter in risk-return terms when compared to single product firms. We find that the Tables 2 and 3 show results in expected direction. The highly diversified groups have higher AROE and lower SD compared to the other two groups. This comparison of the two classification schemes shows sufficient consistency especially in the two extreme groups to strongly suggest that performance tends to be invariant to classification breaks.The comparison also demonstrates the validity of using the more pronounced classification scheme used in this study. Performance as Return on Assets and its Variability Table 4 shows the relationship between the degree of diversification and group-wise performance based on ROA. The sample consists of 1848 single product firms with SR greater or equal to 0. 95. The AROA of these firms over the seven year period is – 1. 9 percent, with a SD of 38. 2. TABLE 4 Performance As: Return On Assets (AROA)-1984-1990 N AROA SD CV Undiversified 1848 -1. 38. 2 NA Moderat ely Diversified 316 4. 0 5. 0 1. 25 Highly Diversified 24 5. 8 2. 7 0. 47 N= Sample Size, AROA= Average Return on Assets, SD= Standard Deviation, CV= Coefficient of Variation The moderately diversified group with SR between 0. 95 and 0. 5 has 316 firms. Its AROA equals 4 percent with a5 percent SD. In absolute terms, the AROA of this group is higher than that of undiversified firms and has lower SDof 5. 0 percent, as compared to 38. percent of the first group. The CV is positive at 1. 25, which shows a much improved risk-return profile. The third group of the highly diversified firms includes 24 firms, with AROA of 5. 8 and SD of 2. 7. These values are lower than the first and the second group. The CV of this group is high at 0. 47, being 38 percent of the moderate group. Statistical results in Table 2 show that as we move from undiversified group of firms to the highly diversified group of firms, the average return on assets increases, and the variability of ROA as given by SD decr eases, and CV or the risk per unit return decreases.Statistically, according to Table 4, the above results are significant at the 1% level. Based on these findings reject the null hypothesis. Performance as Market Return Table 5 reports group-wise markets return performance. The sample consists of 1195 firms in the single product category, and 280 and 23 firms in the moderately and highly diversified groups. The sample for each group is smaller than it was for AROA and AROE because we eliminated firms that did not have complete information for the period under study.The average market return AMKTRET of the undiversified group over the study period is 8. 2 percent. The SD is 21. 1, the risk per unit of return as measured by the CV is 2. 57 and the Sharpe Index is 0. 0421. The moderately diversified group with SR between 0. 95 and 0. 5 has 280 firms. Their AMKTRET equals 13. 2 percent and the SD equals 40. 8 percent. Whereas, the average market return of this group is clearly superior to that of the single product firms, the group shows higher variability as compared to the first one. The CV, i. e. , the risk per unit return also is higher at 3. 8. The Sharpe Index of the moderate group is 0. 1443, about three times higher than the first group, and is in the expected direction. The third group includes 23 firms. Its AMKTRET equals 16. 3, with SD of 10. 1, which is much lower than the first and the second group. The CV is 0. 67, about a fourth of the first group. The Sharpe Index at 0. 89 is about six times higher than that of moderately diversified firms. Table 5 shows that the average market return for the highly diversified group is higher than the moderately diversified group, followed by the single product group.The variability of market returns of the highly diversified group is lower than firms in the single product group. Moderately diversified firms on average have a higher market return, but higher risk than single product firms. The Sharpe Index, the i nverse of which gives us risk per unit return, and is a better risk-return measure, shows that the performance of highly diversified firms is much better than the moderately diversified ones, and performance of moderately diversified firms is better than single product firms. TABLE 5 Performance As: Market Return (AMKTRET)-1984-1990N AMKTRET SD CV SI Undiversified 1195 8. 2 21. 1 2. 57 0. 0421 Moderately Diversified 280 13. 2 40. 8 3. 08 0. 1443 Highly Diversified 23 16. 3 10. 1 0. 67 0. 8900 N= Sample Size, AMKRET= Average Market Return, SD= Standard Deviation, CV= Coefficient of Variation, SI= Sharp’s Index Analysis of ResultsStatistical analysis of the results in Tables 3, 4 and 5 are reported in Table 6. These results look strong. They `show that performance of firms as measured by all the variables in the undiversified group is markedly below that of the firms in the highly diversified group and that these results are statistically significant. The results also show that the performance of firms in the moderately diversified group is better than that of the firms in the undiversified group. These results are also statistically significant.The performance difference between the moderate and highly diversified group however, is not always that clear. When measured on AROA, Sharpe Index and CV, the results are in the expected direction and significant, but when performance is measured by AROE and its SD, and AMKTRET and its SD, the results are not as clear. TABLE 6 Statistical Analysis of Performance Variables STATISTIC AROA AROE AMKTRET n 729. 33 727. 33 499. 3 F max (3,n) 20. 17* 1747. 78* 16. 32* F12 58. 37* 0. 67*+ 0. 27+ F23 3. 43* 1747. 78* 16. 32* F13 200. 17* 1088. 33* 4. 45* t’12 6. 29* 1. 41**** 1. 9** t’23 2. 91* 1. 86*** 0. 96*+ t’13 7. 38* 2. 08*** 3. 07* *Significant at 0. 01 or less; **Significant at 0. 025; ***Significant at 0. 05; ****Significant at 0. 1; *+Significant at 0. 25; +Not significant. The results sugge st that we can reject the null and accept the alternate hypothesis: that higher the degree of diversification, greater is the average performance, measured in risk-return terms.The following paragraphs analyze the results for each performance variable in greater detail. Analysis of Results by Performance Class We further massage our data by subdividing each diversification category: undiversified, moderately diversified, and highly diversified, into three performance classes by adding and subtracting one standard deviation from the average ROE. Thus, each category is divided into three performance subclasses: Average ROE + 1 Std. Dev. ; Average ROE; and Average ROE – 1 Std. Dev†¦ This gives rise to a total of nine performance classes, three for each level of diversification.If the hypothesis that the higher the degree of diversification, the higher the performance is robust, then we should expect it to hold when we compare performance across the performance sub-classes. That is; the high, average and below average ROE performance of highly diversified firms should be higher than the respective performance of the three moderately diversified groups, and each of the three moderate performance groups should have higher average ROE as compared to each of the three undiversified groups.If this relation holds then we can say with greater degree of confidence that diversification of firms leads to higher performance for all classes of firms. We, therefore, hypothesize that the best, the average and the medium performing groups demonstrate a consistent pattern of performance across the three diversification groups on both risk and return dimensions. Table 7 shows classification of firms based on degree of diversification and by performance class. These results are both in expected and unexpected directions.The performance for the low and average performing firms, both in terms of risk and return diversification is in expected directions. But the results fo r the high performance group is found to be in the expected direction only for risk, while for the return measure the performance is in the opposite direction. In the worst performance sub-class, the AROE of undiversified firms is -59. 53, and the SD is 103. 16. As we go toward increasing level of diversification, AROE performance increases to -5. 78 and SD drops down to 5. 58 for the moderate group. For the highly diversified group, AROE becomes +2 and SD falls to 0. 2. In the average performance sub-class, the AROE for the undiversified group is 2. 46, and SD is 6. 87. For the moderately diversified group, ROE increases to 4. 21 and SD falls to 2. 91. For the highly diversified group, AROE increases to 5. 27 and SD falls 1. 60. The results for these two performance sub-classes are consistent with the results obtained for the entire group as shown in Table 3. The results for the best performance sub-class show interesting results. The AROE for the undiversified group is 35. 28 and the SD is 36. 44. AROE for the moderately diversified group decreases to 12. 9. SD also decreases to 3. 3. For the highly diversified group, AROE drops to 9. 52, nearly a fourth of the undiversified group, and the SD decreases to 0. 87, one thirty sixth of the undiversified group. Clearly the results for the best performance class are contrary to earlier findings as far as ROE is concerned, but they are in expected direction as far as standard deviation is concerned. We are, however, able to reject the null hypothesis if we look at CV (Risk per unit return). The value of CV decreases as we move from undiversified to highly diversified group.These results suggest that dominant firms operating with core competencies and operating in less competitive environments are better off concentrating on one business segment. Our results show that such firms have superior returns but are unable to diversify away market risks. These firms may waste investor resources by diversifying into other bu sinesses. On the other hand, firms operating in markets where they face considerable competition and have fewer core competencies, or are unable to dominate their markets, they are likely to be better off diversifying, as it would reduce risk for such firms and increase average returns.SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS The study began with questions regarding discrepancies in empirical and theoretical investigations into the relationship between firm diversification and performance. Our results suggest that the average performance of diversified firms (especially highly diversified ones) perform well on a risk-return basis on accounting measures as well as market-based measures, when compared with group of firms that are not as highly diversified. Managers tend to judge performance using accounting measures such as ROE and ROA where as financial markets use market-based measures such as MKTRET.Our results show that on both types of performance measures, the group of diversified firms on avera ge tends to perform better. The data show that with an increasing degree of diversification, the average return on assets, average return on equity and average market return, increase and the average risk per average unit return decreases. The results are clearer when comparisons are made between the highly diversified and the undiversified group, and the moderate and undiversified groups. The results are not as sharp when we compare results between the moderately diversified and the highly diversified group.The implication of the finding is that in general diversification is helpful but it does not tell us how much of it is helpful. Additional research on economies of scope for these groups of firms may throw some light on this issue. The marginal ambiguity between the moderate and the highly diversified groups may also be the result of eliminating the contingent variables like type, modality and extent of diversification. Controlling these variables may provide greater insight and clarify the differences between the moderate and the highly diversified groups of firms and lend support to theory building.The most surprising finding of our study was about the class of â€Å"best performing† firms. The study found that AROE of undiversified firms was four times better than the highly diversified firms, but such firms had 36 times the volatility of the highly diversified firms. This result implies that the best performing firms, if they diversify, will reduce their earnings, but dampen the volatility of their returns. Managers of such firms therefore will be tempted to dampen the volatility of returns by diversification.Such actions, according to this study will lead to a reduction in returns, but the reduction in volatility of returns will be much greater. This is clearly beneficial to managers and employees of the firm, but a benefit of such insurance for the shareholders is not as clear. The implications for investors are that, if they risk such high pe rformance, they ought to stay in for the long haul, and have high tolerance for volatility. But even for this class of firms based on coefficient of variation, we feel that the average performance of highly diversified firms tends to be better than that of the undiversified firms.One must judge Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electric (GE) in this context. GE's top management group insists that each of their divisions must be either number one or number two in their specific product markets. Thus GE, a high performing conglomerate is trying to emulate characteristics of a dominant undiversified firm at the product market level in order to earn very high returns and concomitantly it practices the art of being an aggressive and active conglomerate at the corporate level to reduce the risk engendered by dominant firms.But not all high performing firms are as careful, well managed or lucky. The study echoes the belief of senior corporate executives who think diversification enhances firm value because it contributes to improvement of the firm's risk-return profile. The results also speak to the concerns of investors. Diversification, especially for the truly high performing firms reduces risk but at the cost of returns. There is undoubtedly a trade-off here between risk and return when managers of such single firms diversify from their core business.Thus diversification does buy insurance for the managers which may help managers and employees more than investors. But in the case of the average and the low performing single firms (most likely the non dominant firms), gain from diversification in return and risk terms, seem significant. The moderate and highly diversified groups also benefit from diversification on risk and return dimensions but their performance is not stellar by any stretch of the imagination. One can argue that diversification tends to reduce the already severe competitive threat faced by the majority of firms in these groups.The implications for investors follow suit. They are better off picking stocks of well-diversified firms as these deliver better returns over time as compared to moderately diversified or undiversified firms. The finding that on average, highly diversified firms, including conglomerates, show better performance than single product firms or moderately diversified firms, supports the belief of corporate executives but is contrary to the viewpoint of research in finance. A classification scheme by definition remains arbitrary, no matter how well we justify the scheme.The only safeguard against such arbitrariness is to demonstrate that the results of the study are invariant to changes in arbitrarily set classification boundaries. We were somewhat successful in showing that changing classification boundaries did not change the thrust of our results. Both methods showed that AROE of highly diversified group of firms was greater than that of the undiversified group. But this still is a fruitful direction for f uture research. We were able to examine ROE alone because of data limitations.The 1981-1990 data set was not consistent for all the variables and segments of businesses. Other variables need to be tested. Researchers may also want to know if, at what point, the results are no longer invariant to SR classification values. Our study has several other limitations. The research period (1984-1990) of this study does not match the time periods reported in earlier studies. If diversification matters as a strategy, then it ought to do so no matter what the time period. This study has examined pooled time series data and finds the results consistent with expectations.Subject to the availability of data, replication over different time periods will adequately address this issue. Economic arguments require that we measure performance in terms of cash flows. We do need to look at the net present value of cash flows to make strong statements about the usefulness of a diversification strategy in the capital budgeting sense. Market return may be a reasonable substitute but the examination of the net present value of cash flow may be necessary from the point of view of the stock market. This is left to future research.Although SR is an acceptable measure of diversification, the entropy measure (Hoskisson, et. al. , 1993) has become an important and probably a better measure of diversification. This study was extensive enough. Perhaps multiple measures of diversification in a future study will alleviate methodological concerns about the appropriateness of diversification measures. The research design of this study differs somewhat from similar earlier studies, and as stated at the outset, it does not address the question whether investor portfolios outperform diversified firms.Therefore, while addressing several possible objections, we urge caution in accepting these results, and suggest future research to verify the findings reported here. Finally, this study examines the ass ociation between corporate diversification and performance per se. It does not address the differences in performance caused by types of diversification, like related, or unrelated; nor does it use modifying variables like firm size and other firm-level factors, or modalities of diversification such as internal product development or mergers and acquisitions.The results of this study are interesting enough to warrant the inclusion of variables that control for industry structure and contingency variables such as interest rates or the state of the economy; or underlying managerial motivation like risk reduction, agency problem, or moral hazard. Such controls will provide greater insight into the diversification strategy, as a practice and as a phenomenon.

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Procopius secret history - Essay Example He was also on the Gothic campaign, in Italy, until 540. He finally lived in Constantinople after describing the immense plague of 542 in the capital. This paper will analyze the source and determine the author’s reliability (Arbor 1). The contemporary history reader should characteristically depend on the investigation of similar contemporary historians. Contemporary historians can access a large number of sources and frequently aim to give an impartial notion of the past life. Nonetheless, past historians did not appreciate objectivity in creating their stories on what would have been for contemporary figures and events (Arbor 1). There should be a balanced method to history and occurrences of the past life. Moreover, Procopius was the best placed historian to give information on the existence of Belisarius, Theodora, and Justinian of the eastern Roman Empire. This is because he published eight works on one of the most popular emperors, Justinian. He not only sets aside panegyrics, in the Secret History, but Procopius looks keenly into the revolt he experienced at his mighty empress and emperor (Arbor 1). Procopius illustrates the cruelty and greed of his emperor, in addition to the lasciviousness and malice of Theodora, his wife. The Secret History is under-supported and overstated, despite being an interesting resource. Early writers did not have the will to cite their resources. One cannot simply presume that because the author, Procopius, was Justinian’s contemporary, he was a witness of everything he documents. This raises a lot of concern on his reliability. Readers cannot ascertain what composition of his work is hearsay, or if it is rumor found in rumor, and the component of the resource that can be advanced. Nevertheless, the resource depicts both Justinian and Theodora as largely suspicious individuals (Arbor 1). Also, when Procopius asserts that Justinian was the most terrible ruler of all time, we are not sure how much

Reflection Paper Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reflection Paper - Case Study Example A good instance is a person who is avoiding members of a certain religious group that is affiliated with certain beliefs and acts. A Christian may avoid or depict an Islam based on the acts of terrorism that are linked to Muslims. The notion of reference group is significant in appreciating conformity, socialization, and how individuals take in and assess themselves (Koch 56). A reference group offers a setting of reference that has a positive or negative effect on the attitude and conduct of a person. These groups also carry out a comparable role by playing the role of a standard figure against which persons can do self-evaluation and other people (Sheehy 127). The reference group is likely to be different due to a different culture or a different society. For instance, a person who was raised in the Middle East countries in the Islam religion and teachings is likely to have a different reference group from an individual who has been brought up as a Catholic Christian. A reference group plays the primary source of self-evaluation and attainment of certain goal in life. An individual who decides to become a lawyer starts to be categorized with that reference group due to their goals and

Business Writing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business Writing - Assignment Example While preparing the draft, Kathy should take into consideration the detailed information available on the subject which includes various opinion and suggestion of the persons on the matter, her own opinion and perspectives, etc. Based on these inputs, Kathy would need to decide on the parts of her writing which needs to be edited, added or replaced. After preparing the draft, Kathy should read the piece to herself in order to be sure that her writing is properly structured and follow a logical flow with meaningful interpretations. In the draft written by Kathy, she should also look to remove redundant words which do not add sense to the piece of writing. The draft that is prepared by Kathy would need to be revised in order to make sure that the sentences written by her are structured, logical and meaningful. Kathy should look to present her writing in a better manner and use separate paragraphs where necessary. Kathy could also look to take suggestions and feedbacks from her peers in order to improve her writing skills relevant to the piece. After performing these steps, Kathy should make sure that she proofreads the piece written by her. This step is important for Kathy to produce a piece of writing to the target readers which do not contain any grammatical errors, errors in punctuation, spelling errors, etc. In this activity of proofreading, Kathy would need to make sure that all sentences in the writing piece are complete, simple and meaningful. Kathy would be able to remove her confusion in process of writing by performing these steps and would be able to produce a completely structured and perfect form of writing. Comparison of oral v/s written medium of communication: Advantages and disadvantages, examples In order to remove the confusion of Kathy in understanding the differences and applications of oral medium and written medium of communication, the advantages and disadvantages of both the form of communication should be explained. This would help Kathy to undertake the appropriate medium of communication in order to apply the same according to the need of the situation. The advantages of the oral medium of communication would help Kathy to resolve the issues faced the customers on an immediate basis. A good power of communication would help in resolving the customer complaints immediately (Kaul 15). The grievances could be settled in the front desk on an instant basis to the satisfaction of the customers in the hotel of Las Vegas. Thus effective oral communication would help in consolidating the customer relation for the Las Vegas hotel. The disadvantages of oral communication are that the facial expressions and emotions expressed during the communication process could not be concealed. This could lead to flaring of tempers. Once an oral communication is mishandled, it is very difficult to repair the relationship between the communicators. Thus Kathy should be careful of these disadvantages of oral medium of communication. In cas es where oral medium of communication is not effective, where maintenance of official records are necessary to validate the earlier communication held, the written form of communication would be advantageous and Kathy would need to adopt this form of communication. Moreover, written medium of communication is beneficial when the sender and the receiver of message are not within reachable distance.

Core Needs Addressed and Bases of Market Segmentation Essay - 16

Core Needs Addressed and Bases of Market Segmentation - Essay Example Examining the case of Lane Bryant, it is ostensible that the company is seeking to meet the basic need for clothing with their introduction of a’ new activewear line’. The workout-wear branded as Livi Active is a product that seeks to meet the clothing desires and demands of women while participating in the gym exercises or as they leave. Availing it in sizes that fit a higher percentage of its target customers has ensured this demand is met (Mahoney, 2015). This base of segmentation considers the demographic variables including age, size, education, religion, gender among others (Blythe, 2008). Considering the case of Lane Bryant’s new product, Livi Active has been initiated with clear conscious about certain variables. Gender, age and body size are the primary aspects that have been examined extensively. The product seeks to meet the demand of ladies and not any other gender. Also, the gap in terms of body sizes has been thought through before coming up with a product that suits size 12. This has been generated from the information and statistics available. Consequently, the psychological influence that drives people into having needs and wants have been considered. In this case, lifestyle is the core aspect that has informed the development of this product. In the plus-size women desire to look sharp and this makes them develop a strong need for gym wears that are designed with colors that can attract them. The bright colors are apparently the best for this. The company’s new product targets plus-size women whose body size are above size 12. The new product is to be designed brightly and fashionably for the large-bodied customers who, in the past, have not had the chance to receive such stylish clothes. Unlike the traditional system where  Lane Bryant only stylishly designed wears for medium and small size customers, the new product will incorporate the large sizes to enjoy the same.  

Primitivism in Modern Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Primitivism in Modern Art - Essay Example The essay "Primitivism in Modern Art" concerns the modern art and primitivism. â€Å"Expressionists† differentiate themselves from other art movements by defining themselves as artists who are â€Å"expressing† themselves because their painting and production of artworks involves their own perceptions, personalities and interests. Foremost of the â€Å"Expressionist† artists were the group called Brà ¼cke which was founded in 1905 by architecture students Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Fritz Beyl, Karl Schmidt-Rotluff and Erich Heckel and later joined by remarkable artists such as Emil Nolde, Cuno Amiet, Max Pechstein and Otto Mueller. Thru the efforts of the group in its first eight years, the world was able to witness the greatest development of the first period of German expressionism which went through various stylistic phases inspired by the stylistic objectives shared by its members. The movement had one very important tendency and that is propensity to look into ‘primitive’ culture for inspiration on the form of their artwork. While they were belonging to the modern era, German expressionists Brà ¼cke explored into non-European, tribal cultures to try to distinguish their works of arts with others and gave rise to the term ‘Primitivism’. ‘Primitive’ art was considered to be closer to unmediated expression and more ‘authentic’ than the civilized. The idea of ‘nature/culture’ was most appealing to German expressionists because ‘nature’ was considered as being direct, unfettered, non-intellectual etc. ... The 'woman' was also considered to be belonging to the primitive group. In this paper, I will be looking into how primitive art inspired modern artists by exploring the concept of primitive art and how it influenced modern artists such as the Brucke in their artworks. A case study involving the analysis of how African sculptures inspired Erich Heckel is provided for a more specific and clear discussion of how primitive art influenced modern artists. 2.0 Exploring the Primitivism Concept 2.1 What is 'Primitive' Whenever one hears of the word 'primitive', there is a tendency to associate it with the word 'barbarian' or 'uncivilized' which connotes untamed and direct expression. While the definition of the term is a major issue in art historical writing, central to the term is the concept of the 'other'. The concept is derived from postmodern theory that describes a tendency to misrepresent another culture, society, social group or object as different, even alien and speak of it as 'other' to the artist's own culture and experiences. The primitive is often associated with tribal and Oriental (those from the East) people but Expressionists also associates it with the nude particularly the nude female. The woman is considered to be a creature of 'primitive' textile prone to 'natural' impulses as opposed to the notion male rationality. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, the Brucke's leader, is particularly fond of nude women and his works is said to display the affinity between culture/male rationality and nature/female impulses (Lloyd, 1991). This is shown in his work displayed in Figure 1: Figure 1. Nude. Kirschner (1910). The sight of Nude

Evaluation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Evaluation - Research Paper Example Several local agencies working in conjunction with national health organizations have outlined strategies and measurements to prevent obesity in their specific areas. When collated, the data form part of the national statistics which inform the public of the updates on this chronic illness. The numerous local and state agencies within the country give authoritative data, facts, and statistics; as well as goals, projected outcomes, and recommendations to assist the public afflicted with obesity. Likewise, professionals, both in local and state agencies, are ready to assist individuals in ensuring that an effective successful long term weight loss is achieved. The research aims to evaluate the health promotion program on obesity issues through tools and models applied to attain goals identified in the national agenda. The findings revealed that through regular monitoring and surveillance of the target population’s percentages and statistics on obesity issues, strategies and interventions are adapted and adjusted, as required. Community based response and through the assistance of leadership, social marketing and other measures, ultimately hope to minimize or ultimately prevent the incidence of obesity in the future. The issue of addressing obesity has been specifically identified as a national agenda in Healthy People 2010. Its relevance and priority to focus on this chronic illness and to seek ways to address it are possible through epidemiology surveillance systems and tools implemented both in the local and state levels. Several local agencies working in conjunction with national health organizations have outlined strategies and measurements to prevent obesity in their specific areas. In this regard, the research is undertaken with the objective of evaluating the health promotion program on obesity as one of the national issues

Manifest Destiny Essay Example for Free

Manifest Destiny Essay Manifest Destiny was a big plus to those who had very little, or nothing at all and sought to begin a new life. It was a movement to the west where there was more land. Manifest destiny played a big role in which it affected the domestic and foreign policies of the nation, which brought many negativity and a few positive things. Manifest Destiny began when the Indian Removal Act was established. As the people began to expand various lands was already possessed by Native Americans. The Native Americans saw them as obstacles instead of people, which caused the Indian Removal Act to force Native Americans to move west of the Mississippi. If they ever refused to move, they either had a choice to become citizens of the nation and live as the white settlers do, or be forced out. A war broke out between the two American people, the white settlers had won the arguments in the end. The conclusion affected the domestic policies in the United States, for the reason that the Native Americans were not in good terms with the white settlers. Look more: manifest destiny essay California was the major destination for Americans, because it interested them due to its location. The United States thought that the more land you had, the more power was gained. As a result, the population of Americans to Mexicans in California was ten to one. This affected the foreign policies between the two. The Mexican government decided to ban any more Americans from entering Mexican territory as a preventative measure. The Mexican government was planning to gain a bigger population, but never to lose land. Americans were not okay with the restriction, therefore they planned on getting what they wanted and that was California. The people kept moving west even with restrictions. After the California issue, came the Mexican American war. In 1845, Texas was annexed while ignoring the Missouri compromise along with the nation changing again its policy on free and slave states. Mexico began a dispute with the aim of a war as regards to the border of Texas from Mexico. America wanted more land for its expansion by which Manifest destiny claimed the largest piece of land was up to the Rio Grande. In the war, Mexico ended up losing, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was established within America  and Mexico. Mexico lost a excess of land, because in the treaty California, Utah, and Nevada, as well as parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Colorado, were now a part of the United States. At the end of the war America won, although the foreign relationships with Mexico was also in risk. Manifest destiny gave the United States more land and power even though it affected the United States in negative ways. Manifest destiny toyed with the foreign and domestic policies of the nation. It all began with the Indian Removal Act, then turning into a bigger issue with the movement to California, and finally ending with the Texas annexing to the Union.

Early Years Laying the Foundations of Learning

Early Years Laying the Foundations of Learning The provision of nurturing to children in their early years of schooling, prep to grade four, is well recognised as being important for an individuals future success in education and learning throughout life (Queensland Government 2008; Dahlberg, Moss, Pence 1999). There is a convincing amount of literature to suggest that the early years of life are a critical period, in which the supported development of children will have long-term benefits (Australian Government [a] 2010). It is acknowledged that in the early years of schooling the foundations for aptitude and basic coping skills are established which, in turn have an effect on an individuals ongoing learning, behaviour and health (Heckman, 2004; Dodge 2004). These issues of learning and wellbeing of a child depend on their circumstances as an individual, as a member of their family, community and wider society (Australian Institute of Family Studies 2010). This essay gives specific regard to these issues that can influence a young persons development in the early years stage of schooling. It sets out to demonstrate the complexity of early years, and highlight numerous risk and protective factors which combine to influence childrens development. Some of these factors affect the development of physical, cognitive, social and language skills necessary for later in life (Early Life Foundations 2010; Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2004). This essay groups these issues into four areas of context, these are; child, family, environment and community. This essay also gives critical examination of some current curriculum documents and learning resources which assist children in developing strong foundation for learning. Analysis of issues that can influence a young persons development at this stage of schooling and discussion of theoretical perspectives related to childhood development and learning; The early years are a period in development where the brain and central nervous system grows and develops (Casey, Giedd, Thomas 2000). Both the environmental factors such as nurturing and natural factors such as family genes influence the development of children. The quality of childrens first environments and the availability of appropriate experiences at the right stages of early years growth are key factors in brain development (The Royal Childrens Hospital, 2009). Inadequate nutrition can also seriously interfere with brain development (Glewwe, Jacoby King 2000; Queensland Government [a] 2010). There is considerable evidence showing adequate stimulation has measurable better brain function of those raised in less stimulating environments. Early stress on brain development can affect learning, and memorably adversely, those children who experience acute stress in their early years are at a higher risk for developing a variety of cognitive, behavioural and emotional difficulties later in life (Glaser 2000; Van der Gaag, 2003). The early years are fundaments for the formation of intelligence, personality, social behaviour and physical development (Aga Khan Development Network, 2007). Investment in the early years can result in significant returns, if children start as bring confident and enthusiastic for learning early on in life, they are more likely to be better students (Van der Gaag, 2003). Child context Current themes and trends in literature suggests that learning in the early years sets good foundations for learning throughout life and that children who have positive experiences in theses years have a greater chance of success (ACT Government 2010). This begs the question, what is success? Generally speaking what society wants most for its children is for them to be happy, healthy and successful (Early Life Foundations, 2010). Both happiness and health can be considered as straight forward, however success has many interpretations. It is therefore important those involved in early childhood education reflect upon what they deem success to be so as they can envisage what they want for children. Whilst children attain competence in numeracy and literacy, being skilled in other non scholarly facets, for example sport, may help children develop more holistically (Lewis 2008). There are subjects, which some considered non-studious, unimportant and which are not promoted or even recognised in schools. Yet some subjects signed with these stigmas deal with childrens ability to enjoy success and form relationships with others that are productive and enable them to learn how to communicate effectively (Lewis 2008). These aspects can constitute success as children learn to express their feelings and cope with challenges. Given that the early years of a child are commonly associated as being the time of the most rapid development and learning, a mass of recognition and advancement supporting the significance of early years offerings exists (Department of Education and Early Childhood Education 2008,). The first example element of this, to be discussed, is the early years learning framework for Australia (Australian Government [b]). The framework has been designed with the notion that one of the main issues shaping early years schooling is how the students perceive themselves. As children physically develop they also develop personal interest and begin to construct their own identities and understandings of the world around them (Commonwealth of Australia [a] 2009). Fundamental to the framework is a view that childrens lives are characterised by the factors of belonging, being and becoming (Australian Education Union 2009). Whilst the framework recognises the importance of literacy and numeracy learnings it focuses vastly on childrens social development, namely: sense of personal identity, connectedness and contribution to their world, strong sense of personal wellbeing, confidence and involvement (Strong 2004) Many curriculum documents and documents directly refer to childrens context, specifically individuals attributes and personalities, motivation, behaviour and health (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority 2010, Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2010). One of the most convincing reasons for investment in early years development is that without it potential for educated human capital is reduced. Thus far research in this field has shown that investments in early years education are financially more efficient than remedial support programmes (Van der Gaag, 2003; Heckman 2004). When planning for education in the early years, consideration must be given for how students learn and what they are capable of learning. Theorists explain to us that in their early years children develop in a series of areas, including physical development, speech, social and emotional and children can show varied capabilities in each area (Genovese, 2003). Commonly planning and school programs are modelled on Piagets theory, a four stage cognitive development theory which provides part of the foundation for constructivist learning (Flavell 1999). Similarly early years schooling is largely shaped by Vygotskys notions related to sectors of development. What a child can do alone and unassisted is a task that lies in what Vygotsky calls the zone of actual development (Kozulin 2003). Vygotskys believes that children enter this zone when they are able to successfully complete tasks independently (Kozulin 2003). Children can then apply this knowledge to new-found situations they may encounter afterward. Family relationships context Of course to achieve autonomously, children need to begin to learn with some assistance. This is where family and relationship context play a vital part in early years development. Children require stimulation and support to aid their development and relationships tend to affect virtually all aspects such development, counting social, emotional, physical, and behaviour (Commonwealth of Australia [b]). The quality and solidity of a childs relationships in their early years lay the foundation for a wide range of crucial later developmental outcomes. Chiefly these upshots are self-confidence, health, motivation to learn, the ability to self-manage problems and resolve conflicts in nonviolent ways and ultimately having the skill to build and uphold relationships. Put simply, relationships are imperative to robust early years development (The Benevolent Society 2010). Relationships connect children to their community in a way which help them to define their identity and what they can achieve, however, it should be noted that families expectations of children differ (Howes, 1999). Relationships between family members such as siblings can allow children in their early years to practice negotiation and skills for coping with disagreements constructively. For children the task of finding a balance between positive and negative aspects of interaction with their family is a trait that can be transferred into childrens positive social development. On the other hand poor early relationships may be associated with adverse developmental outcomes. In this case children may struggle to make friends and learn how to work cooperatively with others influencing their early years learning. For some children there lies an expectation for verbally communicate to take place in their home setting. This occurs for a range of reasons, such as describing events, responding to questions and participating in family discussions (ref). All of these proficiencies are alike those in school settings. Other the contrary, children not concerned with school-like experiences at home may not use language to complete tasks and may have many experiences without surrounding them with discussion. Through the theory work of Vygotsky and also that of Jerome Bruner, the idea that early years learners need scaffolding was taken on. This means that those involved in the education of early years students should be attuned to the interests and learning requirements of students. Given this students are able to move progressively to higher levels of development. Scaffolding, like any approach in teaching, can be advantageous and disadvantageous for learners. This is because when the theory of scaffolding in put into practice there is potential for the zone of development to be estimated inaccurately (State of Victoria 2007) Relationships with parents are also a significant component of early years development and consequently parents are often viewed as ongoing advocates for their children. Teachers allying the Reggio Emilia consider parents as the first teachers of children and therefore this schooling theory involves parents in all aspects of the curriculum (Cadwell, 1997). Environment context Thirdly, learning contexts, such as informal home learning environments and formal schooling play important parts in early years development (ref). Supporting environments that promote optimal early years development greatly increase the likelihood of better education outcomes and health within and subsequent to schooling. Many theorists contribute to the environmentalist perspective of development, believing that learning and behaviour of early years learners are reactions to their surroundings Due to this the organisation of learning environments is key to Reggio Emilias early years philosophy. The significance of the environment follows the belief that children can be aware of their world through situations which support thoughts and various ways of expressing them. In a Reggio Emilia setting, groups of children stay solely with a teacher for three years, in turn, this creates a constant environment without pressures of forming further relationships. The constructivist perspective of development has been highly developed by several theorists, namely Piaget, Montessori, and Vygotsky (NCREL, 2010). Even though their work differs, there is an overall consented belief that development occurs when early years students relate with those and the environment surrounding them (NCREL, 2010; Centre for Child Development 2010). Today, many parents still believe that children are not ready for early years schooling unless they aquire the talents of reciting the alphabet, counting, and rightly follow basic instructions. Another common belief is that children are ready for the early years stage of schooling when they can appropriately respond to their environment, i.e. follow rules and directions and exhibit a proper code of behaviour When early years students encounter difficulties in learning processes, they often are labelled as having learning problems and are monitored in classrooms with curriculum customised to control their behaviour. On the other hand, some theorists advise changing classroom settings to help the children address difficulties. Bronfenbrenners theory describes the environment as having layers, each playing an effect on a childs development. Bronfenbrenner sees the volatility of families as having potential to be a destructive force in early years development and therefore believes that childrens primary relationship needs to be with someone who can provide a sense of care permanently. This theory has dire implications for the practice of teaching. For teachers this theory has implications as it necessitates teachers to provide stable, long-term relationships. Teachers organise the learning environments, they consider how the environments organisation stimulates children and enable them to work most effectively. Effective learning environments are purposefully constructed to aid childrens holistic development. Community context Lastly the community context relating to the environment in which children live, including resources and opportunities, community values, and protection adversely impact upon the development of early years students (Government of South Australia 2007). During early years, childrens identities, knowledge, understandings, capacities, skills and relationships change, these are influenced by events and conditions. By means of correlations with communities, teachers are capable of enhancing their understandings of their students and how curriculums can match their learning and developmental needs. By working with communities, teachers can also form environments for learning which encompass childrens social and cultural existence. The Reggio Emilia way of thinking pays attention to such various points of view along with the needs, interests and abilities of early years students. Perhaps the most trying aspect of this theory is that teacher must trust students to be interested in appropriate learning and be confident they can teach in response. This philosophy also assumes that parents will be proactive in joining their childs education. Critical examination of current curriculum documents that pertain to this particular stage of schooling; In recent times a more apparent comprehension of the ways in which children learn and develop has emerged. Within Australia the recognition of the importance of the early years is also reflected in the development of curriculums. There are many aspects to be considered when planning for teaching and learning in the early years and many theorist have had strong influences in the field of planning. Given child, family, environmental and community contexts shape children lives in the early years stage of schooling, curriculum documents ought to value these attributes. The delivery of developmentally appropriate learning should therefore occur accordingly. In Australia there exists a diversity of backdrops for childhood upbringings; including urban and rural living as well as multiple care experiences and contact with various social and cultural customs (Petriwskyj, A 2010). There are numerous documents available to provide teachers with a framework for interacting with children, planning, assessing and reflecting on an effective early years curriculum. Today the most commonly used methods of introducing curriculum driven outcomes in schools is the development of new resources and guidelines. In effect, these methods lead to a surplus of products which consequently can fail to bridge networks or engage students and school communities. In order to suppress the duplication of poor quality education resources, teachers designing unit and lesson plans must understand the importance of alliance building in order to achieve solid educational outcomes without squandering time in re-inventing the wheel. The development of early years curriculum needs to be mindful of diversity of children and families it aims to be inclusive of (Government of South Australia 2007). . Curriculum makers need to also cater for institutions that follow differing philosophies such as Reggio Emilia, Steiner, and Montessori. Rather than preparing blanket approach frameworks which cause school staff to squeeze through circles, future curriculum documents should acknowledge that implementation of a framework in should be unique to its setting. With this is mind curriculum documents that pertain to the early years stage of schooling could instead focus on how learning can take place, opposed to what has to be learnt. Where current curriculum documents are complex and often bombastic, plain language could be invoked. One crucial element of beneficial early years education is the involvement of the school community, i.e. parents and teachers for students learning. Without the typical education jargon which can be difficult to decipher parents and teachers alike may better understand core curriculum documentation. The support of early years learning settings in a community, from parents could be achieved by making primary school hubs. By moving away from a model of service provision, towards a holistic approach, programming could be further based on the individual needs of children. Formulation of teaching and learning strategies, including resources that assist in teaching this age group. Educators use a wide scoop of strategies to pull together, detail, order and give detail of what they gather to assess the learning of early years students. In recent times approaches to assessment also analyse the many learning strategies that early years students use, these include inquiry based learning and learning by play (Gorden, n.d). Some parents and educators recognise play as a valuable component for learning as it provides opportunities for children to not only explore learning but also to transfer learning from one situation to another. Play is also thought to provide valuable perimeters within which teachers can gauge and scrutinise learning (Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace. 2009). For play based learning, resources that reflect childrens interests can be provided to stimulate and support engagement in recreation (Kennedy). Resources which permit unrestricted use such as cardboard boxes or blocks promote imagination, originality and manipulation of common concepts (Wood Attfield 2005) The Early Years Learning Framework, developed collaboratively by Australian State and Territory Governments, has a set stress for play-based learning as an important medium for early years learning. The framework describes the principles, practice and outcomes essential to support and enhance early years learning (Australian Government 2010). Complementing this resource are various websites which look at early years development and unpack support and education information. Delivering resource packages of audio, document, image, video and interactive software is the Australian Government body; Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (State of Victoria 2007). Via its FUSE (Find, Use and Share Education) website the department supplies resources, agendas, guidelines and professional development that caters for communication, contribution, identity, learning and wellbeing of early years children (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2008) Further resources including an Educators Guide is being prepared to encourage the carrying out of the Early Years Learning Framework, additionally Professional Support Coordinators and Indigenous Professional Support Unit networks across Australia are able to deliver assistance and support its implementation (Australian Government, 2010). Resources designed to assist teaching of early years classes must be focused on promoting life-long learners. Monitoring and assessing are also integral part of curriculum decision making. Strategies teachers can use to that support childrens learning include: providing feedback to children on their progress during learning experiences, reflecting with children about their learning, and keeping the network of those involved in a childs learning informed. Means for implementing these strategies can include the selection of work artefacts for inclusion in folios, writing in communication diaries, reporting in newsletters (Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace 2009). The inclusion of early years students in assessment processes can help build a view of why this learning is considered valuable. This strategy allows children to become more aware of their own learning and empowers them as they continue to learn. Conclusion Given the diversity of children in early years settings, learning experiences differ; we need to cater for children from various social backgrounds as well as their emerging interests and likings they foster. To help lay strong foundations for early years students to succeed, this essay has demonstrated how we can draw upon theoretical perspectives related to learning. Although it notes theory without execution is inefficient. It is understood that success, health and wellbeing can all stem from the early years of childhood. In knowing this, we as teachers can focus upon our interactions and find opportunities to be creative and imaginative and allow children not to be rushed through their early childhood years. Another key components that is used for curriculum decision making in the early years phase of learning is the establishment suitable learning environments of which is developmentally appropriate for children. Investing resources to support children during their early years of life brings long-term benefits to them and for society as a whole.