Indiana Jones Knowledge Issues Essays

Indiana Jones Knowledge Issues Essays Indiana Jones Knowledge Issues Paper Indiana Jones Knowledge Issues Paper How did Indiana Jones and his father, Dr. Henry Jones Sr. , differ in their ways of accumulating knowledge in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? Both Indiana Jones, Indy, and his father Dr. Henry Jones Sr. , have one common goal of finding the ultimate truth and in this case that being the Holy Grail. Though both have the same objective in mind, they approach this objective in two different ways. Indy uses reason, logic, and emotion while his father uses faith and emotion. Indy represents the new, modern scientific portion of society while this father still reverts to the old methods of faith and emotion. Throughout the movie, Indy uses reason to justify his actions which changes when his father is kidnapped which then adds emotion to the equation. The knowledge that both Indy and his father are trying to attain is the location of the Holy Grail. Indys father is very religious and has been throughout his lifetime whereas Indy has modernized and become one that uses his own reasoning to rationalize his expeditions. Indiana Jones approaches finding truth throughout the movie different to that of his father. In the first scene of the movie, Indy is seen trying to play hero as he steals the Cross of Coronado from grave robbers since he believed this special artifact should be in a museum. After stealing this he runs straight home to his father who instead of giving time to Indy, continues his religious research. The grave robbers tell the police that Indy is the thief therefore Indy must return the Cross of Coronado to the grave robbers. , Indy is on the boat that holds the Cross of Coronado and wins it back in a big storm. He then donates the Cross of Coronado to his friends museum, Marcus Brody. Indys perseverance is driven by his reason and logic in this instant. He truly believes that since the Cross of Coronado is an ancient artifact, it should belong to society thus be put in a museum for everyone to own/see. He fights the grave robbers for this because his reasoning and logic allows him to become emotional about finding the truth, in case which is the Cross of Coronado. Later on in the book, Indiana Jones is told his father disappeared therefore his emotion forces him to go on a quest to find his father. His emotion coupled with logic and reason leads him to his fathers location. Indys logic is shown as he reads his fathers diary which helps Indy guide himself to his father. His emotion is clearly illuminated when he invades the Nazi rally to capture his father instead of devising a plan that would provide more safety for both he and his father. Towards the very end of the movie, Indiana Jones must combine faith and emotion to save his father. This is exhibited when Walter Donovan shoots his father, therefore forcing Indy to retrieve the Holy Grail in order to save his father. Once of the obstacles that Indy must overcome in order to reach the Holy Grail is walking on an invisible bridge, which tests his faith. After he saves his father, Indy again shows his reason and logic as instead of reaching for the Holy Grail and risking his own life, he lets the Holy Grail go and saves himself along with his father and Marcus Brody. Indiana Jones exhibits reason, logic, and faith when achieving and attaining truth which in the movie is the Cross of Coronado and the Holy Grail. Indys father on the other hand, is a firm believer in faith therefore uses faith and emotion to achieve the truth in relation to him. In the beginning of the movie, Dr. Jones Sr. s faith is demonstrated when Indy come to show his father the Cross of Coronado and his father will not speak to Indy because he is drawing religious figures and symbols in his diary which is his main source of knowledge for the rest of the movie. This scene where Dr. Jones Sr. is drawing religious symbols in his diary shows his devotion to faith and scholarly personality. Once Indy searches for his father, the diary serves as the most important tool because it contains a map with which Indy finds his father and then also contains the three secrets to finding the Holy Grail. Dr. Jones Sr. s primary reason for finding the Holy Grail was based on his religious faith. The intelligence of Indys father is solely based on his religious faith which is then communicated in his diary. Another major way of knowing that Indys father uses is language, may it be images, symbols, and words, which is shown in his diary. He combines his faith and language to create a diary with the answers that Indiana Jones needs to find his father and the Holy Grail. The emotion of Dr. Jones Sr. enters the movie when he is held hostage by the Nazis. His hatred of the Nazis makes him want to find the Holy Grail faster before the Nazis. He couples his emotion with faith in order to guide his son to finding the Holy Grail and saving his life. The differing ways in accumulating the truth for Indiana Jones and his father exhibit the idea that one can come to the same conclusion while taking different paths. Dr. Jones Sr. took the conventional path to finding the Holy Grail while Indiana Jones took the new innovative way of thinking to find the Holy Grail in addition to his fathers guidance.

The Rainbow Warrior Bombing

The Rainbow Warrior Bombing Just before midnight on July 10, 1985, Greenpeace’s flagship Rainbow Warrior was sunk while berthed at Waitemata Harbor in Auckland, New Zealand. Investigations showed that French Secret Service agents had placed two limpet mines on Rainbow Warrior’s hull and propeller. It was an attempt to prevent Greenpeace from protesting French nuclear testing in the Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia. Of the 11 crew on board the Rainbow Warrior, all but one made it to safety. The attack on the Rainbow Warrior caused an international scandal and greatly deteriorated the relationship between the once friendly countries of New Zealand and France. Greenpeaces Flagship: The Rainbow Warrior By 1985, Greenpeace was an international environmentalist organization of great renown. Founded in 1971, Greenpeace had worked diligently over the years to help save whales and seals from being hunted, to stop the dumping of toxic waste into oceans, and to end nuclear testing around the world. To aid them in their cause, Greenpeace purchased a North Sea fishing trawler in 1978. Greenpeace transformed this 23-year-old, 417-ton, 131-foot-long trawler into their flagship, Rainbow Warrior. The name of the ship had been taken from a North American Cree Indian prophesy: â€Å"When the world is sick and dying, the people will rise up like Warriors of the Rainbow†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The Rainbow Warrior was easily recognizable by the dove carrying an olive branch at its bow and the rainbow that ran along its side. When the Rainbow Warrior arrived at Waitemata Harbor in Auckland, New Zealand on Sunday, July 7, 1985, it was as a respite between campaigns. The Rainbow Warrior and her crew had just returned from helping evacuate and relocate the small community that lived on Rongelap Atoll in the Marshall Islands. These people had been suffering from long-term radiation exposure caused by the fallout from the U.S. nuclear testing on the nearby Bikini Atoll. The plan was for the Rainbow Warrior to spend two weeks in nuclear-free New Zealand. It would then lead a flotilla of ships out to French Polynesia to protest the proposed French nuclear test at the Mururoa Atoll. The Rainbow Warrior never got a chance to leave port. The Bombing The crew aboard Rainbow Warrior had been celebrating a birthday before going to bed. A few of the crew, including Portuguese photographer Fernando Pereira, had stayed up a bit later, hanging out in the mess room, drinking the last few beers. Around 11:40 pm, an explosion rocked the ship. To some on board, it felt like Rainbow Warrior had been hit by a tugboat. It was later discovered that it was a limpet mine that had exploded near the engine room. The mine tore a 6  ½ by 8-foot hole in the side of the Rainbow Warrior.   Water gushed in. While most of the crew scrambled upward, 35-year-old Pereira headed to his cabin, presumably to retrieve his precious cameras. Unfortunately, that was when a second mine exploded. Placed near the propeller, the second limpet mine really rocked the Rainbow Warrior, causing Captain Pete Willcox to order everyone to abandon ship. Pereira, whether because he was knocked unconscious or trapped by a gush of water, was unable to leave his cabin. He drowned inside the ship. Within four minutes, the Rainbow Warrior tilted to its side and sank. Who Did It? It was really a quirk of fate that lead to the discovery of who was responsible for the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. On the evening of the bombing, two men happened to take note of an inflatable dinghy and a van nearby that seemed to be acting a bit strangely. The men were intrigued enough that they took down the van’s license plate. This little piece of information set the police on an investigation that led them to the French Direction Generale de la Securite Exterieure (DGSE) – the French Secret Service. The two DGSE agents that had been posing as Swiss tourists and rented the van were found and arrested. (These two agents, Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur, would be the only two people tried for this crime. They pled guilty to manslaughter and willful damage and received 10-year prison sentences.) Other DGSE agents were discovered to have come to New Zealand on board the 40-foot yacht Ouvea, but those agents managed to evade capture. In total, it is believed that approximately 13 DGSE agents were involved in what the French termed Operation Satanique (Operation Satan). Contrary to all of the building evidence, the French government at first denied any involvement. This blatant cover up greatly angered New Zealanders who felt that the Rainbow Warrior bombing was a state-sponsored terrorist attack against New Zealand itself. The Truth Comes Out On September 18, 1985, the popular French newspaper Le Monde published a story that clearly implicated the French government in the Rainbow Warrior bombing. Two days later, French Minister of Defense Charles Hernu and Director General of the DGSE Pierre Lacoste resigned from their positions. On September 22, 1985, French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius announced on TV: â€Å"Agents of the DGSE sank this boat. They acted on orders.† With the French believing that government agents should not be held responsible for actions conducted while following orders and New Zealanders completely disagreeing, the two countries agreed to have the UN act as a mediator. On July 8, 1986, UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar announced that the French were to pay New Zealand $13 million, give an apology, and stop trying to boycott New Zealand produce. New Zealand, on the other hand, had to give up the two DGSE agents, Prieur and Mafart. Once handed over to the French, Prieur and Mafart were supposed to serve out their sentences at Hao Atoll in French Polynesia; however, they were both released within two years – much to the dismay of New Zealanders. After Greenpeace threatened to sue the French government, an international arbitration tribunal was set up to mediate. On October 3, 1987, the tribunal ordered the French government to pay Greenpeace a total of $8.1 million. The French government has yet to officially apologize to Pereira’s family, but has given them an undisclosed sum of money as a settlement. What Happened to the Broken Rainbow Warrior? The damage done to the Rainbow Warrior was irreparable and so the wreck of the Rainbow Warrior was floated north and then re-sunk in Matauri Bay in New Zealand. The Rainbow Warrior became part of a living reef, a place where fish like to swim and recreational divers like to visit. Just above Matauri Bay sits a concrete-and-rock memorial to the fallen Rainbow Warrior. The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior did not stop Greenpeace from its mission. In fact, it made the organization even more popular. To keep up its campaigns, Greenpeace commissioned another ship, Rainbow Warrior II, which was launched exactly four years after the bombing. Rainbow Warrior II worked for 22 years for Greenpeace, retiring in 2011. At which time it was replaced with Rainbow Warrior III, a $33.4 million ship made specifically for Greenpeace.

CIPD - M1-B DEP Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CIPD - M1-B DEP - Coursework Example The executives in this department assist the officials in allocating the resources, allotting people for a particular project and to help them in other problems. In this case, professional development is certainly required as the human resource executives must be updated with the latest advancements. Professional development is certainly important in today’s competitive world. An employee must equip and update himself with the technological developments and advancements to help him survive in an industry. Professional development is a concept of learning new skills, updating and improving their skills. This will enable them to improve their career and this directly and indirectly improves the organization as well. This improvement must be informative to help them to tackle domain related issues. The human resource profession map exhibits the professional areas, behavioral aspects one must possess in order to be an efficient human resource executive. The CIPD human resource map emphasizes on the professional and behavioral aspects of a human resource executive. This is described with the help of human resource map and this map is divided in to three distinct parts. The primary part of the map indicates the behavioral aspects which describe the character of a person employed in an organization. (CIPD, 2010). Since the behavior of a person determines his professional character, this area is considered to be the primary classification of the human resource map. The secondary part of the map is built with the professional areas which define the operations and happenings in the organization. This also describes how an employee is professionally capable of handling the situations in an organization. The professional areas are in turn classified under two different categories, stra tegy insights and solutions and leading and managing the human resource function. The professional areas in the human resource map

Case 2 Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

2 - Case Study Example The number of users also gives the area and the activities where the energy drink will be much needed. In the analysis, it was determined that the energy drink in the United States that is highly consumed is Pepsi-Cola. The company hence should develop a strategy to adequately compete the product. This requires a selected group to be targeted (Fang & Rogerson, 2007). When Andrew Baker need to decide on a product line involving introduction of the brand as a single serve package or a multi-pack, the consideration to be taken into place is the volume of consumption of the targeted group of consumers. In the choice, introducing all the packages will be appropriate since the target consumer market have several characteristic of consumers with different taste and preferences. The alternatives that are available are those of mix packages including, single serve, multi-pack with the package size being 8-16-n 24 ounces. The versions that are available are those of regular and sugar free and flavors of one and two. Provision of the wide range will enable the company penetrate the market as there is consideration of health and medication factors in the products through the different flavors and versions (Fang & Rogerson, 2007). The calculations for sales and positioning are made with consideration of the price and the group that consume the drink. Adults for instance between the age of 35 and 54 have a higher consumption that the other ages. The problem that occurs in the choice of channel is the appropriate channel that the company can take to use so that they are able to reach all the consumers. The company used both off-premises and on-premises retailers with the problem in the decision on the retailers to initially supply. In making the decisions, the company should supply all the off-premises retailers as they will build and expand the market that they have for

Higher education Essay Example for Free

Higher education Essay Modern day education is aided with a variety of technology, computers, projectors, internet, and many more. Diverse knowledge is being spread among the people. Everything that can be simplified has been made simpler. Science has explored every aspect of life. There is much to learn and more to assimilate. Internet provides abysmal knowledge. There is no end to it. One can learn everything he wishes to. Every topic has developed into a subject. New inventions and discoveries have revealed the unknown world to us more variedly. Once a new aspect is discovered, hundreds of heads start babbling over it, and you get a dogma from hearsay. Not only our planet but the whole universe has become accessible. Now we have good and learned teachers to impart us with knowledge of what they know. Every one is a master in his field. We and our children are getting taught by professionals of their field. Presently our education is based on making us the best in our area of interest, to help us reach our goals more easily. More of the fact based knowledge is being grasped by us. What we learn helps us in our career and in our profession. Professionalism is deep-rooted in our society now and this education makes us so. Skill-development and vocational education has added a new feather to the modern system of education. There is something to learn for everyone. Even an infant these days goes to a kindergarten. And a little grown, mentally and physically is promoted to a Montessori. Everything is being categorized, be it a primary, middle, a higher secondary or graduate school. We have temples of education known by a familiar word the â€Å"university†. Whatsoever we are getting educated day by day and what’s good about is that it’s a never-ending process. Rightly said by Aristotle, â€Å"Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refugee in adversity. † is what everybody feels now. THE CON’S Well, that was the positive side, but every story has two telling. Of all the virtue, our education system has developed into mere schooling now. New trends are being developed which are far more a baloney that boon. Albert Einstein once said â€Å"Education is that which remains, if one has forgotten everything one learned in school. † Firstly our education is confined to schools and colleges. It has become a process of spoon feeding. â€Å"Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon† were the words of E. M. Forster. We are being fed with facts and knowledge. Not art, not books, but life itself is the true basis of teaching and learning. Cramming of facts and dates, hi-fi mathematical formulas, theories and doctrines should be at college levels when one has chosen his area of interest. What will the history pay a doctor or a mathematician, or medical terms to a historian? Secondly, an art can only be learned from a workshop of those who are earning their bread from it. Modern education has spread more ignorance than knowledge. Most of the women even don’t know, where, the fabric they are wearing, came from. The word â€Å"How† is missing in our world which causes ignorance. â€Å"Education†¦has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading. † says G. M. Trevelyan. Thirdly all education is bad which is not self-education. Presently, children after school are sent to tuitions. This is a clear question mark on the ability of school teacher. Homework tutorials are mushrooming up in our society. Students are thought of like they can’t do anything on their own and so are sent even to do the homework. Our schoolings got a lot of loop-holes. They guide us through a well catered pathway which finally leads to professionalism. Homework is a waste of time, if it is to repeat class work done today or to be repeated as class work to be done tomorrow. Our schooling does not leave us with time to get educated. Mark Twain once said that† I have never let my schooling interfere with my education†. Our child’s normal routine has become to wake up early, brush up their minds with light reading, go to school, then go to tuition and finally come home and do the homework. Finally our education is producing machines out of pupil. They read books, they speak books and they do books. Discussing in class lead to complications, which remains as confusions for a life time if left untreated. Vladimir Nabokov, a U. S critic, poet and novelist says â€Å"Discussion in class, which means letting twenty young blockheads and two cocky neurotics discuss something that neither their teacher nor they know. † So, it’s a matter of debate that our education system is fallacious or fair.

Enlightenment and the Death of God Essay -- Philosophy Religion Essays

Enlightenment and the Death of God Intellectual thought since Nietzsche has found itself one way or another addressing the death of God. Most of this thinking, however, has taken place from an atheistic starting point and has not considered its own presuppositions. It strives to find consistent outworking from these presuppositions and to eradicate the shadow of God carried over from the Enlightenment tradition because of its grounding in a theistic worldview. However, the outcome and implications of thinking after the death of God has been found hideous and many attempts have been made to transcend the absurdity there. THE DEATH OF GOD   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nietzsche proclaimed in The Gay Science, "God is dead: but given the way men are, there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown.-- And we -- we still have to vanquish his shadow, too."[1] The death he witnessed was the tide of atheism that has dominated science and philosophy since his time. This atheism invariably comes from one of two different backgrounds: Enlightenment science and Enlightenment morality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the major products of the Enlightenment was science. As humans were deprived of their previous significance as children of God in the center of the universe, human knowledge was elevated and empirical science became enthroned as the greatest realization of human knowing. As a result, metaphysical knowledge was pushed aside in favor of strict empiricism. God and Christianity were not so much denied as pushed aside, first into deism, which removed him from the world without clashing too much with Western culture, and then all the way into atheism. For the most part, atheism that comes from this perspective has not been bothered b... ...but it has for the most part been unable to completely escape Enlightenment rationalism with its presupposition that metaphysics can be known objectively and exhaustively by human beings. The pragmatic rationalism of Habermas provides an auspicious postmodern beginning for discussing the problem of God again. FOOTNOTES [1] page 191 in our book. [2] see Psalm 13, Ecclesiastes 8:14, Job 21:7-21. [3] James says, "we consider blessed those who have persevered" (James. 5:11a, NIV). [4] The Brothers Karamazov, p. xiii. WORKS CITED Nietzsche, Friedrich. On The Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo. New York: Vintage/Random House 1989. Camus, Albert. The Plague. New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1980. Sartre, Jean-Paul. Nausea. New York: New Directions 1969. Habermas, J. Class handout. Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov. New York: Bantam 1981. Enlightenment and the Death of God Essay -- Philosophy Religion Essays Enlightenment and the Death of God Intellectual thought since Nietzsche has found itself one way or another addressing the death of God. Most of this thinking, however, has taken place from an atheistic starting point and has not considered its own presuppositions. It strives to find consistent outworking from these presuppositions and to eradicate the shadow of God carried over from the Enlightenment tradition because of its grounding in a theistic worldview. However, the outcome and implications of thinking after the death of God has been found hideous and many attempts have been made to transcend the absurdity there. THE DEATH OF GOD   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nietzsche proclaimed in The Gay Science, "God is dead: but given the way men are, there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown.-- And we -- we still have to vanquish his shadow, too."[1] The death he witnessed was the tide of atheism that has dominated science and philosophy since his time. This atheism invariably comes from one of two different backgrounds: Enlightenment science and Enlightenment morality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the major products of the Enlightenment was science. As humans were deprived of their previous significance as children of God in the center of the universe, human knowledge was elevated and empirical science became enthroned as the greatest realization of human knowing. As a result, metaphysical knowledge was pushed aside in favor of strict empiricism. God and Christianity were not so much denied as pushed aside, first into deism, which removed him from the world without clashing too much with Western culture, and then all the way into atheism. For the most part, atheism that comes from this perspective has not been bothered b... ...but it has for the most part been unable to completely escape Enlightenment rationalism with its presupposition that metaphysics can be known objectively and exhaustively by human beings. The pragmatic rationalism of Habermas provides an auspicious postmodern beginning for discussing the problem of God again. FOOTNOTES [1] page 191 in our book. [2] see Psalm 13, Ecclesiastes 8:14, Job 21:7-21. [3] James says, "we consider blessed those who have persevered" (James. 5:11a, NIV). [4] The Brothers Karamazov, p. xiii. WORKS CITED Nietzsche, Friedrich. On The Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo. New York: Vintage/Random House 1989. Camus, Albert. The Plague. New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1980. Sartre, Jean-Paul. Nausea. New York: New Directions 1969. Habermas, J. Class handout. Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov. New York: Bantam 1981.

Research on Amanda Todd: Cyberbullying Essay

Todd’s suicide received widespread, international media coverage, much of which included a link to Todd’s YouTube video and an email address provided by the RCMP appealing for information from the public. Within 24 hours of the appeal, over 400 tips were received.[9] The RCMP has stated that its investigation was hindered by the amount of false information in online postings after Todd’s death, and scams claiming to raise money for her family. Amanda Todd, a 15-year-old Canadian schoolgirl hanged herself, last week, after years of unrelenting abuse by peers and online predators, one of whom persuaded her to flash her breasts and then shared the picture around the world. In a personal video posted on the internet weeks before her death, Amanda told her story of â€Å"struggling, bullying, suicide, self-harm†. The sexual bullying of women and girls online is not a new phenomenon and Amanda’s story is not unusual. A quick search shows hundreds of simil ar videos of tormented young women across the world telling intimate tales of loneliness and abuse, often by bullies who use the internet to ogle and harass women and girls with impunity. What is unusual is that this week, a fight back began. Since her suicide, more than one million Facebook users have â€Å"liked† Todd’s Facebook memorial page.[9][33][34] Mingled among the positive support and comments are continuing attack posts and images from strangers and those claiming to be her former classmates, such as a message stating â€Å"I’m so happy she’s dead now.† [9] After one man’s derogatory Facebook comments about Todd’s death were reported to his employer, the Grafton-Fraser Mr. Big & Tall clothing chain confirmed that he was no longer an employee Of course, the problem is far bigger than a few isolated creeps. The problem is a culture that persecutes women and girls for being visible online and in the physical world. Until bullies everywhere, in schools, on the internet and in positions of power, get the message that sexual abuse and harassment of women and girls has real, tangible consequences for them as well as for their victims, vigilante e-justice will remain the only effective way for women and their supporters to hit back.

Art a Bar at the Folies Bergere by Edourd Manet

elly Turner A Bar at the Folies Bergere by Edourd Manet In the detailed work of art by the artist, Edourd Manet, the subject matter is depicting a barmaid who is alone working in a crowded bar shown in the mirror behind her but at a far distance away. The look on her face seems like she is distracted and overwhelmed with so many customers that she can’t handle taking everyone’s order. The subject matter comes from the artist who maybe is unhappy with his own work and maybe overwhelmed with all the pieces he needs to create for a certain event.The media of this work is an oil painting. Oil paintings are used on a canvas. It is a slow drying process which gives the surface of the painting richness and depth of colors. To use oil paint you need good quality sable brushes, turpentine for cleaning and thinning brushes, a canvas, and paint. Points, lines, and shapes help create oil paintings. There are symmetrical forms of the barmaid depicting visual weights and counterweigh ts in the piece, A Bar at the Folies Bergere, by Eduaor Manet.The shapes in this piece are geometric by the reflection of the mirror and also soft edged by the crowd in the background in the mirror almost faded out. The overall balance is destabilized. The masses in this painting are mostly focused on the bar tender then geometrically have the crowd smaller and faded away in the mirror depiction. The textures of this image are implied because there are x-ray photographs that reveal that Manet twice shifted the barmaid’s reflection further right. The color scheme is broken down with light and dark colors making it appear naturalistic.The space is created in two dimensional work with the barmaid’s image reflecting off of the mirror with the crowd portrayed in the background as pretty far away from her and also by balancing to lead our eyes around the work. Elements are arranged with the barmaid as the main element which is big and catches our eyes before we notice the sm aller people in the mirror reflection. Unity is created by the mirror reflecting her back image talking to a man knowing that they are all one big room. There is variety n this piece because the barmaid is very finely painted yet the crowded area of people in the mirror is almost fuzzy and unrecognizable. The scale of this work is half life size half not with the women being painted as a normal size yet the other people are very tiny with just their upper bodies being painted. The woman is extremely emphasized in this picture and the man along with the bar top is emphasized as well but not as much as the woman. In the detailed work of art by the artist, Edourd Manet art can be described in many various ways to depict so many different aspects of the painting.

Capitec Case Study Essays

Capitec Case Study Essays Capitec Case Study Essay Capitec Case Study Essay Wits Business School WBS-2006-21 Capitec Bank: Low-Cost Banking for Joe Average By December 2006, Capitec Bank, South Africa’s newest listed retail bank, had come a long way from its origins as a microlending organisation in 2001. Over time it had started introducing other banking services to its entry-level clients, so that by 2006 it offered all the basic banking services, namely lending, transacting and savings. Capitec’s chief executive for marketing and corporate affairs, Carl Fischer, considered the organisation’s strategic plan for 2007: to position itself as a proper bank in a much broader target market. Despite the perception that Capitec was more of a microlending organisation than a bank, it had in fact been performing exceptionally well as a bank for well over four years, with limited marketing effort (see Exhibit 1). Fischer realised that the key to survival for a low-cost bank in South Africa lay in high volumes, but still wrestled with the question as to how Capitec could overcome the current perception that it was a niche bank in order to attract the volumes it needed to compete successfully. Background to Entry-Level Banking in South Africa1 The South African government had endeavoured to facilitate and regulate the financial sector since 1992. Prior to the promulgation in 1992 of an Act exempting small loans from interest rate restrictions imposed according to the Usury Act of 1968, the vast majority of the South African population did not have legal access to formal credit. Banks did not offer microcredit, so borrowers had to resort to pawnbrokers, informal operators, mashonisas (township moneylenders) and other systems such as the stokvelsa, burial societiesb and rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs). After 1992, however, a whole new industry arose. Because it was legal for interest rates to exceed the cap placed on loans by the Usury Act, two separate types of operation began to expand: independent, cash-loan providers, who made one-month loans; and term lenders, who ensured repayment using payroll deductions. a A stokvel is an informal savings club in South Africa. Members of a stokvel pay a mutually agreed sum into the club every month. The cumulative savings of the group are then rotated to each member of the group on a regular basis. After everyone has had their turn in receiving the contributions, the group may disband or start another cycle. Burial societies, a hybrid of the stokvel, are informal self-insurance schemes, which absorb the costs of social activities and cultural requirements of funerals. Stokvel members contribute a fixed amount of money to a common pool weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Money is then drawn when the particular need arises. This case was prepared by Research Associate, Stephanie Townsend, with lecturer Thabo Mosala. The case is not intended to demonstrate effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation; it is intended for classroom discussion only. Copyright  ©2006 Graduate School of Business Administration, University of the Witwatersrand. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any format electronic, photocopied, or otherwise without consent from Wits Business School. To request permission, apply to: The Case Centre, Wits Business School, PO Box 98, Wits 2050, South Africa, or e-mail chetty. [emailprotected] wits. ac. za. Capitec: Low-Cost Banking for Joe Average By 1999 the government realised that the 1992 exemption had created an environment conducive to high interest rates and abusive practices. The Micro Finance Regulatory Council (MFRC) was therefore established under the 1999 Usury Act Exemption Notice to protect consumers by regulating those institutions lending under the unrestricted interest rate window. The Exemption Notice made it compulsory for microlenders (all those who extended credit up to a new maximum of R10,000. 00, at rates above the statutory cap) to register with the MFRC. In 2002 it became compulsory for all suppliers of microfinance to register with the National Loans Register (NLR), thus creating a database that recorded all loans disbursed by lenders registered with the MFRC. According to researchers Patrick Meagher and Betty Wilkinson, from the IRIS centre at the University of Marylandc, the Exemption Notice had a great impact on the microlending industry and since then, several trends had emerged, including: an increasing formalisation of the industry (registration of previously independent operations); the introduction of new players (such as furn iture and retail merchants); an increased interest from the commercial banking sector; increased formal investment in microlending (funds raised on the stock market or through private placement); and increasing levels of client indebtedness. They went on to point out that, small borrowers required finance for a wide variety of reasons. These included compensating for seasonal fluctuation in cash flow; funding a small business; consolidating or paying off other loans; housing improvements; funding emergency expenses; paying for education; purchasing consumer products; and funding bad habits, such as alcohol abuse. 4 Cash microlenders had to take into consideration that there was a cyclical nature to their lending, ensuring that they had large amounts of cash on hand for part of each month. There were several different segments in the industry: formal registered firms – the so-called microfinance providers – which included commercial banks, financial institutions, section 21 (not for profit) enterprise lenders, developmental lenders, and larger short-term moneylenders; semi-formal moneylenders, such as small, unregistered moneylenders whose main livelihood was microlending and pawnbrokers, who were not yet formally included in the moneylending statistics; and purely informal moneylenders such as the mashonisas, stokvels, burial societies and ROSCAs. In 2000, the year before Capitec was founded, the demand for banking services from lowerincome individuals was growing rapidly, as a combination of increasing income levels in this segment of the population, urbanisation, rising consumer aspirations and the rapid growth of the informal business sector started to make an impact. Yet at this stage, the poor made little use of formal banking services and the fo rmal banking sector seemed to be inappropriately structured to satisfy this rapid growth in demand. In reaction there was considerable growth in the microfinance sector, with the biggest source of growth coming from the microlending sector. 6 IRIS is a research and advisory centre located in the Department of Economics at the University of Maryland which works to understand and facilitate economic growth and democratic development in poor and transition countries. c 2 Capitec: Low-Cost Banking for Joe Average Founding of Capitec The origins of Capitec dated to 2000, when the chairman of the PSG Financial Group, Jannie Mouton, persuaded Michiel le Roux, the former head of NBS Boland Bank to join PSG to help establish Keynes Rational, a PSG microlending division. In the process of canvassing his former colleagues, Le Roux met with Riaan Stassen (chief executive officer of Capitec in 2006), two other colleagues and Fischer, all of Boland PKS. They convinced Mouton and Le Roux that microlending alone was not sustainable in the long run, because of the unacceptably high interest rates and the challenges of recouping the loans. 7 (At the time, noted Fischer, the market was characterised by some shady characters who used unconventional methods to ensure that they would receive the repayments. ) Thus, the idea of a bank with microlending capabilities, that served the lower end of the market, was born. The fundamental principles around which the bank was structured were that it would recoup loans through a proper bank account, ensure that it understood its clients’ financial activities, and that it had insight into the creditworthiness of its clients. 8 The profitable microlending side of the business was to act as an income generator to finance the migration process to a formal bank. In the end the entire management team of Boland PKS joined Keynes Rational, soon to become Capitec Bank. Fischer noted that the process of establishing a bank was neither simple nor inexpensive. 9 It could literally take years to obtain approval for a banking licence from the South African Reserve Bank, build the technological infrastructure of the bank, and set up the inter-bank relationships with, for example, credit clearing bureaus and the Payment Association (which was part of Saswitchd). Capitec was the first new bank to enter the South African banking arena in 20 years. In March 2001 PSG obtained a retail banking licence and one year later Capitec listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE). During its first year Capitec traded as two separate entities, namely the bank (Capitec), and the microlending business (called FinAid). Both had separate branches, with separate branding. This situation was short-lived, however, as the management team soon realised that it made far more sense strategically to be one entity and one brand. 0 In the process of merging the two entities, the microlending side of the business had to be dramatically upgraded, Fischer said, as the branches were located in somewhat sleazy locations and run by less desirable personnel. 11 Thus, 75% of the branches were closed down or relocated to better surroundings and transformed to a more formalised structure. They were redesigned, with an open, modern feel for easy access. During this period Capitec focused predominantly on microlending which accounted for the perception in 2006 that it was still only providing microloans. By 2006, Capitec had grown significantly and the business, which was originally capitalised with R350 million, was worth R2. 2 billion. The half-year results released in September 2006, showed that the bank had grown by almost 50% in the past year and had increased its profitability by 71%, with a 23% return on equity. 12 It had close to one million clients, of whom 468 000 had savings accounts. Furthermore, savings customers were growing at a rate of 25 000 new clients per month. 13 (See Exhibit 1. ) By the end of 2006, Capitec had a staff count of over 2 000. Saswitch stands for South African Switch. Saswitch is the brand name for the electronic switch operated by Bankserv, an inter-bank system operator owned and controlled by member banks to facilitate exchange transactions among the various banks. d 3 Capitec: Low-Cost Banking for Joe Average Business Model From the inception of the bank, the Capitec management team decided to focus on providing lowcost basic banking services to the lower- to middle-income market, and not to create a bank that offered everything to everybody. As Capitec’s business strategy unfolded, it reversed what the bank believed to be the flaws in traditional banking, and offered its target market something completely different. As a result, the bank turned several conventional banking practices on their heads. Heather Formby, a journalist at the Financial Mail, referred to this as â€Å"a quiet banking revolution in some ways†. 14 The conviction to do this, Fischer said, flowed from deep insight into the needs of the bank’s target market, and a willingness to improve consumer financial literacy. 5 Target Market In 2001 the bank set out to service the typical microborrower, who originated from the lowerincome end of the market. While there were different levels of financial sophistication in this group, the typical clients were relatively unsophisticated. Only a few, for example, would know what an interest rate was. Fischer explained that the traditional microlending business was built on people having shortterm cash-flow crises, brought about by the behaviour of certain of the worst-case scenario clients. They would, on receipt of their salaries, withdraw every cent they had. This meant that they operated strictly with cash-in-hand – at a high security risk. By the middle of the month cash-flow problems usually presented themselves to such individuals, forcing them to turn to short-term loans. 16 However, Capitec’s market stretched much further than the typical salaried microborrower. The bank actually concentrated on the LSM 3-7e market (or those people with an income of between R1 179 and R6 659 a month). This gave it a total target market of 19 million people (see Exhibit 2). By 2006, the bank had the LSM 8 market within its sights as well. 7 Moreover, the management team had noticed a tremendous change in the average South African consumer over the past 10 years. As a result of better housing and electricity, the demand for white goods, such as fridges and washing machines, had accelerated beyond expectations, opening up yet another market for Capitec. However, Fischer observed that although Capitec’s loan repayments’ offer was better, white goods’ retailers were in a better position to offer immediate finance, such as hire purchase contracts, thereby satisfying their clients’ need for instant gratification (see section on Competitors below). Thus, he said, it remained an ongoing challenge to try and change the consumer mindset from desiring instant gratification to thinking â€Å"coldly and ruthlessly† about finance, and about where to find the best loan option. 18 Having pinpointed the trends that characterised the target market, Capitec set out to offer practical solutions to the everyday challenges of its clients (see Exhibit 3). The company identified key needs such as price, real-time delivery, simplicity through paperless card driven processing and personal contact, and from this a business model emerged. The model rested on the four pillars of affordability, accessibility, simplicity and personal service, and Fischer maintained that â€Å"everything the bank did was measured against those four pillars†. 19 By applying this strategy, Capitec believed that it had managed to change consumer perceptions that banks e The South African Advertising Foundation (SAARF) Living Standards Measure (LSM) had become the most widely used marketing research tool in Southern Africa. It divides the population into ten LSM groups, 10 (highest) to 1 (lowest). The SAARF LSM segments the South African market according to its living standards, using criteria such as degree of urbanisation and ownership of cars and major appliances. 4 Capitec: Low-Cost Banking for Joe Average were expensive and slow, that they offered complicated products and services requiring loads of paperwork, and were not the right place to grow one’s money. Affordability Fischer maintained that the main objective of Capitec was to â€Å"slash by half the banking fees of its competitors†. 0 From day one the bank had managed to do this by using technology to help keep costs down and enable the bank to operate without back offices in all the branches. By cutting out paperwork and the administrative activity associated with it, the bank saved significantly on expenses. The branches themselves operated on a cashless basis to save on security devices such as bullet-proof glass and were kept simple, and there was only one ATM at each branch to facilitate withdraw als. By using the existing debit card infrastructure at retailers, the bank not only saved costs, but also encouraged a change in client behaviour by limiting the handling of cash. As cash transactions were very expensive, both the client and the retailer benefited from this approach. Capitec’s alliance with Shoprite Checkers and Pick ‘n Pay also allowed cash withdrawals from these retailers’ terminals. The fee structure was simple and affordable. Bank transactions such as ATM withdrawals and debit orders cost R2, cash withdrawals at point-of-sale terminals cost R0. 5 and, to encourage the use of debit cards, purchase transactions were free of any fees. Capitec realised that the first thing its clients did at an ATM was to enquire about their balances, and therefore ensured that the client’s balance appeared on the screen automatically at no cost when they inserted their cards. 21 By encouraging debit card use, the bank minimised the security risk associated wit h carrying large amounts of cash. To change a client’s borrowing mindset to one of saving, was yet another challenge. However, in an attempt to encourage the client to save, Capitec offered 10% interest on deposits up to R10 000 while other banks paid minimal interest on savings accounts. Fischer believed that this strategy had worked, judging by the rate at which Capitec was acquiring new savings account customers Breaking with convention, the bank reduced the interest rate on deposits exceeding R10 000. Underlying this move was the desire to manage the bank’s liquidity – to reduce risk by attracting large numbers of smaller accounts rather than being dependant on a few really big accounts, Fischer explained. 2 Accessibility Capitec’s almost 290 branches were located in places where people commuted, worked and shopped – at train stations, taxi ranks or shopping malls, for example. The bank’s minimum operating hours were from 08h00 to 17h00 and often from 07h00 to 19h00 on weekdays (to accommodate those clients on their way to or from work), and 08h00 to 13h00 on S aturdays. Simplicity Capitec ensured a simplified and focused product range, which allowed for an almost completely paperless environment. For example, the bank took photographs of its clients, while bank employees used fingerprint identification to identify themselves and verify transactions on clients’ accounts. The simple banking procedure entailed capturing the client’s details, taking the photograph and running a credit check. Within 10 minutes the client would have a Global One Banking Facility which gave access to savings accounts, transaction and loan accounts, as well as a debit card called the Global One Gold Card. All that was required to complete the process, was one signature and even this was soon to be replaced by client fingerprint identification. 3 5 Capitec: Low-Cost Banking for Joe Average Personal Service It soon became clear to the management team that the less informed a client was about banking, the more he or she needed support from people within the bank, so it set out to provide exactly that. In an effort to connect well with the target market, and in the belief that it was much s impler and more effective to do so in the client’s home language, Capitec recruited staff from the areas surrounding its branches and trained them in the required skills. 4 Capitec had also launched mobile banking in 2006 (see Exhibit 4), in terms of which a sales force would open accounts for customers at their workplace, at a time which suited the employer. Within minutes, using 3G-technology, a client would have access to an account and a debit card. Employers welcomed this move, as it meant that employees spent less time away from work. 25 Challenges Capitec’s two major challenges came from the demands imposed by the Financial Sector Charter and the National Credit Act. Financial Sector Charter 26 In terms of the Financial Sector Charter, which was signed in 2003, the major players in the financial sector – banks, insurance companies, brokers and exchanges – agreed to a set of service provision and empowerment targets. These included improving banking services to low-income earners, increasing the number of black employees at all levels of the organisation as well as ensuring that blacks shared in the ownership of the bank. It also required that they support black entrepreneurs. All financial services companies were expected to pursue these targets, to report periodically on their progress to a monitoring body and to be graded on their performance in the form of a public scorecard. The Charter aimed to ensure access to transaction and savings products for 80% of people in LSMs 1-5f by 2008. With 16. 4 million people (or 53. 5% of all adults) still lacking access to banking in 2006, another 8 million people would have to move from the unbanked category to the banked category over the next 18 months if this target were to be achieved. The government found that the interest rate caps contained in the Usury and Credit Agreement Acts had not been effective in protecting consumers. It found that credit allocation had been distorted to the detriment of low-income clients and that misleading disclosure, anti-competitive practices and the very high costs of credit had undermined the potential benefit of access to credit. The problems in the microlending industry were also found, to a large extent, to be a symptom of the failure of the banking sector to meet the needs of low-income earners. 7 In this context, the government passed the National Credit Act in June 2006. It was set to come into effect by early 2007 and would replace the Usury Act (1968), its Exemption Notices and the Credit Agreements Act (1980). The Act aimed to regulate the granting of consumer credit by all credit providers, including microlenders, banks and retailers. It would create formal bodies referred to as the National Credit Regulator and the Nati onal Consumer Tribunal, to ensure enforcement of the Act and promotion of access to redress, and to adjudicate contraventions of the Act. It addressed, among other things, over-indebtedness and the reckless granting of credit and unlawful provisions in agreements; it promoted disclosure in terms of the form and effect of credit agreements and disapproved any debt settlements other than debt enforcementg. The f g National Credit Act The poorest 60% of the population. The recoupment of payments through legal means, for example debit orders. 6 Capitec: Low-Cost Banking for Joe Average potential impact of the Act would be to limit the granting of pre-approved credith; to change the debt counselling process,i and; to result in a prolonged collection process. 8 The Act, in its attempts to make the credit facility process as transparent and comparable (to other credit facility offers) as possible, thus presented some challenges to banks and other financial institutions. For example, it complicated the quoting process and affected Capitec’s use of technology, as the new requirements demanded a complete rewrite of the ba nk’s systems. In turn, these changes prevented the organisation from advancing its own technology to stay ahead of the pack. Fischer explained that only by continued technological advancement could they stay at least three steps ahead. 29 Other Challenges Adding to the controversy surrounding banking charges in general, a report commissioned by the Competition Commission in 2006 had questioned the make-up of bank charges levied on transactions. As a result, the government again turned its attention to banking: this time to the transparency and costs of certain banking transactions. The first public hearing at which financial institutions could respond to the report was scheduled for the end of 2006. In addition, for Capitec, being one of the smallest players in the South African banking industry by far, presented a number of additional challenges, the most pressing of which was how to keep control of the bank. The management team was acutely aware of the danger of a hostile take-over attempt by a bank such as African Bank, for example (see Competitors below). 30 Future Plans Internet and cell phone banking were high on the agenda and the bank already had plans to launch these services in 2007. Capitec intended to use technology to its fullest extent to support its aim of growing its savings accounts in the mass market to three million by the end of February 2009. 31 In addition, Capitec had introduced six- and 12-month loans in 2005, in addition to the one- and three-month loans it already offered. Now, in 2006, it planned to introduce 18- to 24month facilities in the near future. Granting small, unsecured loans was expensive and inevitably resulted in high fees, yet, in Capitec’s latest annual report, Mouton pledged to continue making microcredit more accessible. He said that the bank wanted to reduce the cost of lending, at the same time offering more products to meet the exact needs of the market. 32 On the other hand, home loans would not form part of Capitec’s product offerings. Fischer explained that as far as Capitec was concerned, this was best left to the specialists who had perfected securitised lending. Another approach was necessary for unsecured home loans which they were evaluating. 33 According to Stassen, about 64% of salaried people in South Africa still did not have banking accounts, therefore huge growth opportunities still existed. 4 The reckless granting of credit is prohibited under the Act. Reckless credit is when a credit provider gives you a loan or other credit without assessing whether you can repay the loan and even if you do not understand or appreciate the risks, costs or obligations under the credit agreement or if the granting of the credit leads to you becoming overindebted. [Source: www. persfin. co. za (accessed 28 February 2007). ] i The process whereby a client is informed about the implications of the loan. h 7 Capitec: Low-Cost Banking for Joe Average Competitors Capitec faced competition from a number of sectors, both traditional and emerging. African Bank Investment Limited (ABIL) The focus of the bank was to underwrite largely unsecured credit risk through the provision of personal loans to the â€Å"formally-employed, emerging market†j. Prior to 1998, ABIL (then called African Bank) had operated for 24 years as a small commercial bank. It was bought by the JSElisted Theta Group in 1998, and subsequently merged with three loan finance companies owned by the Theta Group. In August 2002, it acquired the R2. 8 billion Saambouk personal loan book. By the end of 2006, ABIL had 1. million clients from various sectors of the South African economy. 35 The bank focused solely on term loans, requiring repayment over between 12 and 35 months, for example, in contrast to the typical microlending sector offering of loans to be repayed over one, three or six months. However, according to Fischer, the organisation was migrating to the lower end of the market, while Capitec was migrating up to the middle section of the market. 36 ABIL introduced credit cards as part of its offerings in late 2006. Capitec perceived African Bank as a major competitor because of its well-established reputation in the market. Mzansi A government initiative, the Mzansi account was launched as a low-cost product in October 2004 by the four major retail banks Absa Bank, First National Bank (FNB), Nedbank and Standard Bank as well as Postbank. The aim was to attract the 16. 4 million unbanked South Africans into the economic mainstream. This initiative was a direct outcome of the Financial Sector Charter, in terms of which the banks undertook to provide access points for first-order, retail financial services within 20 kilometers of 80% of South Africans in LSMs 1 to 5. 7 By mid-2006 more than two million people were users of the product. Facilities on Mzansi accounts were limited to deposits, withdrawals, debit card transactions and balance enquiries. In early 2006 all the banks agreed to include debit orders on the account in the course of the year. Interest was paid on credit balances (which could not exceed R15 000) and there was no monthly service fee. 38 Mzansi users were allowed to make four withdraw als and deposits free of charge. Thereafter, normal banking charges applied. In an article comparing Mzansi’s fees with those of a normal Capitec banking account, journalist Richard StovinBradford found that Mzansi’s were higher than those of Capitec. 39 According to Colin Donian, the initiatives director of the Mzansi account, the profile of the Mzansi account holder was mostly female and the average account balance was R300. Most account holders (62%) were between 25 and 54 years, and the largest uptake had come from black communities, where most of the unbanked population resided. 0 The Four Major Retail Banks Apart from the Mzansi account, all four major banks had other accounts serving the lower end of the market, such as Nedbank Transactor (designed to meet the needs of clients who did not Emerging markets in this context, refers to the upcoming black middle class market. On 9 February 2002, Saambou Bank, one of South Africa’s larger banks at the time, collapsed and was placed under curatorship. k j 8 Capitec: Low-Cost Banking for J oe Average require a cheque book), Absa Flexisure and FNB Smart Account. Standard Bank’s E Plan offered basic banking products to people earning less than R5 000 per month. Standard Bank launched its E bank in 1994 as a separate subsidiary which offered an electronic banking and savings product. It was a high-volume, low-margin product that proved to be extremely popular with the lowincome market, particularly because it offered a R1 000 death benefit to the account holder’s next-of-kin. By 1996 E Bank was doing so well that it had become a threat to its parent brand, with the result that Standard Bank incorporated the subsidiary into its main stable. 1 E Bank only entered the microlending market in 1999, and then did so via a joint venture with African Investment Bank Ltd. 42 Following on the success of E bank, Nedbank entered the low income market with its People’s Bank division in 1995, which later became its empowerment subsidiary with a separate banking licence. By 2003 People’s Bank had about 2 million clients. Unlike the other banks’ offerings, the Nedbank Transactor account was available to all customers – and not just to the entry-level segment of the market. Absa established its NuBank division in 1996, and immediately started granting credit to clients. In 2000, it acquired 51% of UniFer, which was then the market leader in microlending, and incorporated NuBank into this organisation. The rapid growth in the volume of loans granted, however, meant that UniFer’s administrative systems could not cope, and by March 2002 its provisions for bad debts were hopelessly inadequate. UniFer was accordingly delisted and made a whollys of local partnerships between banks and retailers were those between Standard Bank and cell phone group, MTN (with ts MobileMoney account), Nedbank and supermarket retailer Pick ‘n Pay (with Go 9 Capitec: Low-Cost Banking for Joe Average Banking), and the fashion retail group Edcon and FNB for the provision of personal loans. Fischer noted that some of these alliances were powerful and presented a potentially serious threat to Capitec. 48 The Standard Bank/MTN and Edcon/FNB alliances were relatively new i n the market and difficult to assess, but Pick ‘n Pay Go Banking had been in operation since 2000, which meant it had had time to prove itself. Operating as a division of Nedbank, Go Banking used the retailer’s stores (6 000 till points countrywide) for transactions, as well as Nedbank and Old Mutual Bank ATMs and branches. A customer could draw cash for only R2, get a balance enquiry free of charge, make deposits, and pay accounts. Both debit and credit cards were available. Although specific numbers of clients were hard to come by, Stovin-Bradford mentioned that Go Banking had never generated the sort of response expected by Pick ‘n Pay. 49 Accordingly, Fischer did not perceive Go Banking as a major competitor, as he believed the one thing that it lacked, was personal service. Banking is about people and service, and everything boils down to that. A retail cashier or a brochure can hardly offer personal banking advice,† he said. 50 Credit and Loans Provided by Retail Organisations The furniture retail industry in South Africa was worth R15 billion per year, of which about R10 billion was sold on credit. Historically, credit furniture sales had been conducted according to the Credit Agreements Act, which restricted interest rates to the ceiling of the Usury Act, while allowing the seller to retain ownership of the goods sold as collateral. However with the advent of the MFRC and a clearer more transparent regulatory environment for microlending, many of the furniture retailers, as well as other retail chains such as Woolworths, had started actively promoting microloans to their regular, well known clients. These organisations had a solid credit history on their clients, relied on a credit scoring methodology to assess risk, and did not require debit orders or other deductions. Most of their clients were salaried employees. 51 This was still a very new segment of the icrolending market and had yet to develop. Analysts speculated that it would replace much of the traditional furniture credit market, and also provide additional small loans to the retailers’ customers. 52 The MFRC had placed many objections to furniture organisations entering the microlending market, as it saw this as a means of bypassing the Credit Agreement Act. The argument was that since the retailers also controlled the price of the items they were selling, they could adjust the price of the goods to cover the cost of the lending. However, the retail organisations said that the ceiling on the Credit Agreement Act did not allow them to recover their costs. 53 Capitec perceived the retail market as a serious emerging competitor. 54 Conclusion To achieve its aim of growing its share of savings accounts in the mass market to three million by the end of February 2009, Capitec had little choice but to focus heavily on marketing. From this perspective, the company’s major challenge lay in changing the perception that Capitec was only a microlender. To do this, it had to build trust and stature in the eyes of the public. The question facing the Capitec management team was how it should set about doing this over the next year. Considering the fierce competition that existed in the market (the four major banks’ marketing spend, for example, was in the order of R200 million each per year) and the pressure from the South African government on financial institutions to support the lower end of the market, Capitec had some serious choices to make, and it would be these choices that would determine its destination. 10 Capitec: Low-Cost Banking for Joe Average Exhibit 1 Capitec Bank: The Present Profile Capitec Bank The Present Profile 3 Operations Clients ‘000 Savings Clients ‘000 Turnover R’m Number of Loans ‘000 Capitec Bank Branches % Impairment Profitability Headline Earnings R’m Headline Earnings per Share (c) ROE % Equity NAV per Share (c) Share Price (c) Market Capitalisation R’m 611 260 164 623 580 399 676 1 490 1 072 784 3 105 2 233 824 3 050 2 194 30 46 8 49 70 12 70 101 16 116 165 23 74 104 26 300 0 1 477 2 454 266 2. 58 380 18 1 904 2 617 265 1. 43 440 143 2 259 2 486 251 1. 45 706 375 2 863 2 650 253 2. 85 852 468 1 586 1 486 267 4. 07 04 05 06 Aug 06 Source: Courtesy of Capitec, August 2006. 11 Capitec: Low-Cost Banking for Joe Average Exhibit 1 The Present Profile (cont) Source: Courtesy of Capitec, 2006. 12 Capitec: Unconventional Banking in a Risky Market Exhibit 2 The Market: Average Income Spread The Market LSM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Average Income Spread Number ‘mil 30. 6 Income R 0–R 947 % 2. 1 3. 8 3. 8 4. 5 4. 1 4. 3 2. 3 1. 7 1. 9 1. 7 7 12 13 15 13 14 8 6 6 6 R 949 – R 1 179 R 1 179 – R 1 443 R 1 443 – R 1 977 R 1 977 – R 2 549 R 2 549 – R 4 366 R 4 366 – R 6 659 R 6 659 – R 9 388 R 9 388 – R12 077 R12 077 – R19 298 Target Market 19m * Household Income after statutory deductions Exhibit 3 The Average Client In Summary The Average Client Time constrained : 8 – 5 working hours Limited mobility – public transport Cash dependant – Security Risk Pay date driven Does not save Needs more information on managing finances Needs funding in times of crisis Source: Courtesy of Capitec, 2006. 13 Capitec: Unconventiona l Banking in a Risky Market Exhibit 4 Mobile Banking Mobile Consulting Source: Courtesy of Capitec, 2006. Unless otherwise indicated, all the information in this section comes from M Kirsten, ‘Policy Initiatives to Expand Financial Outreach in South Africa’. Paper delivered at World Bank/Brookings Institute Conference, 30-31 May 2006, available www. dbsa. rg, documents link (accessed 16 November 2006). 2 Ibid. 3. Wilkinson Meagher. â€Å"Filling the gap in South Africa’s small and micro credit market: an analysis of major policy, legal and regulatory issues. † Institute for Informal Sector Research. University of Maryland. 2001. 4 5 1 Ibid. Ibid. 6 Ibid. 7 Interview with Carl Fischer, 3 November 2006. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid 11 Ibid. 12 S Planting, ‘Assume You Can’, Financial Mail, 7 April 2006, available www. financialmail. co. za (accessed 27 October 2006). 13 Interview with Carl Fischer, 3 November 2006. 14 H Formby, ‘Snug in the Low -Cost Niche’, Financial Mail , 27 October 2006, p 45. 5 Interview with Carl Fischer, 3 November 2006. 16 Ibid. 17 Ibid. 18 Ibid. 19 Ibid. 20 Ibid. 21 Capitec Annual Report 2006, p. 11. 14 Capitec: Unconventional Banking in a Risky Market Interview with Carl Fischer, 3 November 2006. Ibid. 24 Ibid. 25 H. Duvenhage, ‘Capitec Bank vat Bank na die Werkplek’, Sake Rapport, 10 September 2006, p 9. 26 Unless otherwise indicated, all the information in this section comes from M Kirsten, ‘Policy Initiatives to Expand Financial Outreach in South Africa’. Paper delivered at World Bank/Brookings Institute Conference, 30-31 May 2006, available www. bsa. org, documents link, (accessed 16 November 2006). 27 Ibid. 28 Nedbank Group, ‘The Turning Point’, National Credit Bill, available www. nedbankgroup. co. za/pdfs (accessed 10 December 2006). 29 Interview with Carl Fischer, 3 November 2006. 30 Ibid. 31 S Gunnion, ‘Capitec Lifts Client Base, Profit Fast’, Business Day, 28 September 2006, p 22. 32 Capitec Annual Report, 2006, p 12. 33 Interview with Carl Fischer, 3 November 2006. 34 Riaan Stassen quoted in an article by L Peyper, ‘G’n of Min Bankkoste: Bankgroep Wys Hoe’, Die Burger, 20 May 2006, p 23. 35 www. africanbank. co. a, about African Bank link (accessed 14 November 2006). 36 Interview with Carl Fischer, 3 November 2006. 37 R Stovin-Bradford, ‘Getting a Measure of Mass Banking’, Sunday Times Business Times Money, 7 May 2006, p 21. 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid. 40 www. southafrica. info/public_services/citizens/consumer_services/mzansi. htm (accessed 5 December 2006). 41 C. Mitchel and Heil, D, ‘Taking Banking to the Unbanked: Wizzit (A), Wits Business School case WBS 2006-14. 42 Ibid. 43 Ibid. 44 www. southafrica. info/public_services/citizens/consumer_services/mzansi. htm (accessed 5 December 2006). 5 Electronic correspondence with Carl Fischer, 5 February 2007. 46 www. postbank. co. za (accessed 14 November 2006). 47 R Stovin-Bradford, ‘Getting a Measure of Mass Banking’, Sunday Times Business Times Money, 7 May 2006, p 21. 48 Interview with Carl Fischer, 3 November 2006. 49 R Stovin-Bradford, ‘Getting a Measure of Mass Banking’, op cit. 50 Interview with Carl Fischer, 3 November 2006. 51 P Meagre and B Wilkinson, ‘Filling the Gap in South Africa’s Small and Micro Credit Market: An Analysis of Major Policy, Legal and Regulatory Issues’, op cit. 52 Ibid. 53 Ibid. 54 Interview with Carl Fischer, 3 November 2006. 23 22 15

7 Tips for Writing a Film Review

7 Tips for Writing a Film Review 7 Tips for Writing a Film Review 7 Tips for Writing a Film Review By Mark Nichol When I wrote for my college newspaper, one of the assignments I enjoyed most was writing film reviews. And I was terrible at it, as I soon realized. Why? I was writing the equivalent of book reports: movie reports. Fortunately, I came to my senses and realized that evaluating films and plays and the like (and, yes, books) is more complicated, yet more satisfying, that that. Here are some tips not necessarily in the order in which they would be applied in your writing for crafting movie reviews (which are more or less applicable for reviewing other types of composition, or even products like software or gadgets): 1. If circumstances permit, view the film more than once. It’s easy to miss key elements, or even the whole point, after just a single viewing. 2. Express your opinion of the film, but support your criticism. If you are offended or disappointed or embarrassed, provide a valid reason, even if you think it is obvious. A film review that comes across as a personal attack on an actor, director, or screenwriter or a diatribe about a genre is a failed review. 3. Adjust the style of your review for the readership. If you’re pitching reviews to a traditional publication, you’re expected to be fairly evenhanded (though even mainstream film critics are permitted nay, expected to gently mock particularly inept filmmaking). If your target audience is fanboys (and fangirls) on a movie-geek Web site, though, feel free to take the gloves off. Either way, though, support your criticism with valid observations; hurling invective is not the same thing as evaluation. 4. Avoid spoilers. One of the most pernicious fairly recent developments in the review genre is the careless, thoughtless revelation of key plot points. It’s a sign of professionalism to refrain from giving such information away. Exception: Reviews of previously released films don’t necessarily adhere to this rule, though it’s still considered sporting to warn readers or site visitors to skip to the next paragraph if they don’t want to read something. Some classy sites actually code spoilers to be invisible unless the visitor scrolls over the blank area to highlight that passage in the review. 5. Judge the story. Are the character’s actions justified, and are their motives plausible? Is there an internal consistency to the way each person behaves, or do some words, thoughts, or actions ring false? Does the plot make sense? Is the story line logical? Is the narrative arc well shaped, with an economy of form, or is it flabby or drawn out, with time-killing pointlessness? 6. Rate the actors. Do they meet the expectations dictated by the plot and other story elements? If not, is it their own thespian shortcomings, are they hampered by a poor script, or is there something about their performances that makes you believe the director is at fault? What could the performers, the screenwriters, or the filmmaker have done differently to make the movie work better? 7. Evaluate the technical elements. How do the cinematography, editing, lighting, sound, and other components support or detract from the film? Is music appropriate and effectively employed? You needn’t know film-technology jargon to share your thoughts about how these elements contributed to or detracted from the whole. Writing film reviews is in one way a thankless task: Often, readers will disagree with you, and many people will go to see movies without your wise guidance. How to avoid frustration? Writing about movies, like writing about just about anything else, should be primarily an exercise in enjoyment: You do it because you like doing it. If anybody else out there enjoys the result of your exercise in self-entertainment, so much the better but you’re your own primary audience (and your worst critic). Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Spelling Test 1Top 11 Writing Apps for iOS (iPhone and iPad)Threw and Through

Letter to Prime Minister for the Problems Faced by a Chinese Immigrant Essay

Letter to Prime Minister for the Problems Faced by a Chinese Immigrant in Canada Before 1885 - Essay Example Dear Prime Minister, I am writing this letter as an immigrant worker and an affiliate of Chinese community to appeal for investigation and resolution of the problems, which we are facing as Chinese immigrant’s workers. I speak not just for myself but also for my Chinese brothers and sisters who have taken a great role in building this country. In the letter, I will also mention the happenings of the past few years that have resulted in alienation and increased suffering of Chinese living in Canada. Since our migration into Canada, life has been unbearable and we feel unwelcomed not just by Canadian citizens but by the Canadian government. We as Chinese community feel like the Canadian government is using us for their own good while we suffer silently. I am a young Chinese male, currently working in the Pacific Canadian Railway construction though I have done some other menial jobs. I thus have a clear understanding of the extent to which the Chinese migrants are suffering. I am a Chinese immigrant from Guangdong. Right from our entry into Canada, we were welcomed with a lot of hostility. It was inauspicious to be referred to as ‘sojourner’ or temporary workers while some of us were settlers. Some Canadians might have come as temporary workers, but even those who have been here for generations are not excluded from the tortures we undergo. Irrespective of the much risk we undertook to build the Canadian Pacific Railway, our efforts have not been rewarded or appreciated. Your government started portraying hostility towards us when they realized we were almost about to finish the railroad. We know that they fear that we might settle here permanently but we deserve better. We have to do the menial jobs irrespective of out competent skillfulness. I feel like I and my fellow Chinese have persevered enough discrimination and personal attacks. I do not understand why we have to pay extremely high head tax while our work is meant to benefit the Can adians and their government. I might have excused the Canadians for mistreating the first Chinese arrivals but it has been almost a whole century since then and we are still facing the difficulties they faced. I left Guangdong to escape poverty and I find it disheartening to continue suffering irrespective of the hardships I have to undergo as a railway worker to get my daily bread. Being treated as an outsider or an alien is disheartening. Chinamen or non-British alien is the name used to refer to us from Guangdong. This is discriminative and a demonstration of extreme racism, which I believe, you are opposed to. I have been a worker in Canadian Pacific Railway (C.P.R) for over a decade and I feel its time your government acknowledged that we are part of Canadian community. You must have noticed the increasing agitation as we near the completion of the C.P.R. Chinese constructors are being attacked and killed often and no measures have been taken to curb this. I fail to understand why the white, black, and native workers are paid two to three times our wage while we do similar and at times harder works than them. I agonize every day as I watch my brothers sleep hungry and come to work every day. Others die while planting explosives along the railroad construction site. I happened to work at the area near Fraser Canyon, which was the most difficult part of the construction. It was evident that the Chinese who were being paid the least wages comprised the majority of the team working in this site. Countless of them died while planting explosives or digging tunnels. Although we as Chinese rail workers are paid the least wages, we have to pay for our cooking and camping gears while other workers are provided for the above freely. Irrespective of our great role in improving the Canadian economy, we have been denied the right to vote. Additionally, were have been alienated from the political community. The move to form our own community was

Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Philosophy - Essay Example Basing our argument on philosophy, it can be noted that the previous philosophy or rather the ancient philosophy do not give out the same picture as it used to be some years ago. As the way of life changes, so are things like philosophy and sociology just to mention but a few. However, before a change can fully be implemented, there must be a motivation. The same applies to the modern philosophy. Before attaining its current state, there was a motivational appeal, which our ancestors anchored on to foster the attainment of their desires. First, our ancestors had a sense of recognition in that they recognized the existence of a new path that had departed from the medieval scholasticism. From that point, they started to refer to their own philosophizing style as â€Å"modern.† Notably, the recognition of medieval scholasticism departed path designating the modern philosophy. Secondly, the early philosophers acknowledged the Greek philosophical schools, after which they breathed life back to them. The philosophers believed that the schools contained the middle age’s lost vitality, which they knew would help them drive to the modern philosophy. In short, education was a pertinent motivator to the modern philosophy. In other words, education laid a foundation to proper thinking, and so it motivated the philosophy to their destiny. Thirdly, freedom formed another motivator to the current philosophy. Through freedom, the early philosophers got the chance and time to move freely out of the oppression of the Catholic Church. In doing so, they stood on a good position of defending themselves from the trouble they experienced with the religious and legal authorities. It is noteworthy that most innovative philosophers always experienced impeachment as heresy. However, freedom made them overcome these accusations. Lastly, scientific achievements in fields s uch as biology, engineering, chemistry, and astronomy staged the early philosophers on a good platform of