Are Gun Control Policies effective or ineffective Essay

Are Gun Control Policies effective or ineffective - Essay Example Implementing strict and effective gun control measure serves as a platform to reduce the increasing crime rate and deaths that result from firearm’s misuse. According to criminologists, intensified gun control measures focused to disarm every citizen are the solution to the recent misuse of guns and increased crime in the United States. Remarkably, the reduction of guns in the streets contributes substantially to the reduction of armed crimes and deaths. Increasing gun control does not reduce crimes by itself, but the enforcement of the law is the way forward to solve the dilemma of gun control and crime rate. Criminologists have conferee to the realistic reasoning that the absence of a gun in the hands of a criminal of angered member of the family would not result to fatality. The possession of firearms by an individual is always perceived as a factor that increases the likelihood of gun fatality. Through observations, the presence of firearms trigger the gun attack that incr eases the possibility of deaths involved in a conflict. Advocates for stiff gun control measures are contented that many lives would be saved if the government made it harder for people to own guns. There are a number of reasons behind intensified gun control measures. One of the realistic rationale on gun control lies on the fact that citizens services no military or police duties and should not thereby own riffles. The laws restrict the public from taking law into their hands. As a result, gun ownership serves more of breaking the law than ensuring personal security. Similarly, ownership of firearms by citizens’ law may not contribute to crimes directly, but has an underlying loophole for gangs to access firearms to use in criminal activity. The ban on firearms saves lives among the citizens because it deprive the victims an easy way of suicidal mission. Remarkably, ownership of gun has seen the rise of suicides committed in a country. The absence of a firearm within an angry or depressed individual may be the difference between life and death that critical point. The public is more of the side of gun control with fifty –four percent of the Americans being in su pport of strict gun control policies. While a considerable number of citizens may advocate for gun anti-control, it is evident that the public does not see possession of firearms as way to improve persona security, but as a threat to the lives of others. This has

Review of the article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Review of the article - Essay Example Devalued local currency acted as an equalizer of the combined influence of valued foreign currencies as well as the deflationary external price index. This further brought about actual depreciation in China’s economy. During this period, the Chinese economy and trade situation were developed relative to other countries that suffered from this large-scale depression. The journal argues that in the face of the severe economic situation, the central government of China carried out several policies like exposing silver export tax, giving silver export authorization to restrain exports. The enforcement of these policies played a crucial role in stabilizing the economy in the face of acute depression. However, capital control of the government was not able to significantly hold back the nature of the silver money which was profit oriented when hyped nominal. Therefore, Chinese silver price created room for speculation and the government hence only had the option of departing from the silver standard to nationalize all silver reserves3. For this reason, therefore, the central government of China had to carry later out monetary reform that suspended convertibility of silver. This financial reform also adhered to sanction standard, and it also centralized the right to issue money to three commercial banks that were controlled by the government. Since th en, the silver standard became history. Additionally, the Chinese government was strong enough to put in place laws that covered the silver standard. One of the major factors that brought controversial views of the economic performance of China was the correctness of the prewar statistics data on economics. Other scholars saw the data as being incorrect while some argued that the information was correct. Due to unstable political circumstances and frequent warfare, the work of statistic gathering was underdeveloped in China.

Objectives and methods of Lean Manufacturing

Objectives and methods of Lean Manufacturing 1. INTRODUCTION This report is a broad introduction to Lean Manufacturing. Lean manufacturing is a group of methods which are being gradually more implemented around the world and the greater competitiveness for manufactures. This assignment report reviews the main objectives of lean manufacturing and the method of eliminating waste. The organisational, operational and human barriers that need to solve to achieve the successful lean manufacturing strategy. The challenges and problems faced by the company named Bajaj Motors in terms of quality of its process and the brief knowledge of the main approaches of lean manufacturing like Kaizen, Just-in-time, Total quality management (TQM) and Six sigma to achieve a successful organisation. 1.1 LEAN MANUFACTURING Radhakrishnan (2008) states that Lean manufacturing is a systematic phenomenon to determine and eliminate the transportation waste, waste of time, waste of human resource and other waste. In Lean manufacturing small lots are prepared and dispatch at the same time. It an aim at providing best and optimum quality through formation of the technique where in each subpart is examined before putting step further. 1.2 OBJECTIVES OF LEAN MANUFACTURING as mentioned by Alavala 2008. 1.2.1 QUALITY: Improvement in quality means elimination of number of errors. The main objective of lean manufacturing is to attain optimum level in quality without any or low fluctuation in operating cost. 1.2.2 PRODUCTIVITY: Productivity is the result of lean manufacturing because same amount of resources which were used earlier now produces better result leading to increase productivity. 1.2.3 WASTE: The other main objective of lean manufacturing is to reduce waste like waste of time, waste of efforts, waste of resources etc which will help to get higher productivity and higher profit level. 1.2.4 HELP TO KEEP IN ORDER: Lean manufacturing help to keep everything in order, which will help to find right tool at immediate situation, clean and tidy work place, economic of scale and leading to fast functioning of operations. 1.2.5 STANDARDIZED: Adopting Lean manufacturing result in standardized of resources like place for everything and everything in its right place. This makes performance of operation smooth and steady. 1.2.6 OPTIMUM UTILIZATION OF RESOURCES: Lean manufacturing aims at optimum or full utilization of resources (time, money, efforts, humans, machines etc.) full utilization in accordance to set standards of organization are always beneficial to organization. 1.2.7 THOROUGH CHEKING: Lean manufacturing involves in depth examination of the process as soon as the task is over. As a result short comings are sought out at the very first step before moving to next stage and efficiency is maintained at every stage. 1.3 REDUCTION OF WASTE: One of the most important aspects of lean manufacturing is cut down of waste or scrap as a result unnecessary flow of raw material, time, money and efforts are save thus manufacturing cost decreases and net profit increases and the ultimate goal of any concern is to achieve profit like optimising the profit and satisfying the employees working in there and thus it is very important for the organization. As lean manufacturing work on the mechanism of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“work for everyone and every one on the right workà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  if organization follows this phenomenon it would result in reduction of waste and hence could be easily achieved. 1.4 HISTORY OF LEAN MANUFACTURING: Moore (2007) demonstrate that the foundation of lean manufacturing was formed late back from 1910 when assembly line technique of ford was formed, later on a Japanese company name Toyota motors use assembly line technique of ford and many other technique which were combined together and formed Toyota production system or just in time but it was later termed as lean manufacturing which was originated in Toyota manufacturing plant. 1.5 MASS PRODUCTION: The manufacturing of the product in large quantity. It is done by using assembly line or another means of production. It is totally different from the lean manufacturing. Mass production produces in large size whereas lean production produces smaller lots just that much as market required. Mass production is a push type production whereas lean production is pull type production. 1.6 APPLICATION OF LEAN MANUFACTURING: Lean manufacturing is mainly followed in manufacturing systems as the concept is made in accordance to manufacturing concerns. Though many other business are trying to apply this phenomena but the majority of result was in negative as each organization have there own process, technique, variability, objectives etc. But while considering the competitive market business other than manufacturing are also going for lean manufacturing. 1.7 FUTURE OF LEAN MANUFACTURING: The future of lean manufacturing is very titanic (big, bright). The main reason for this is the nonstop rising of inflation rate. As we know lean aims at cutting the cost of waste so in this competitive world the organization that can cut down the waste cost will be the most feasible among all so its importance will definitely goanna rise in the future and organizations, business would be running after it. 2. CULTURAL CHANGE: Wilson (2009) states that Cultural change is the process of bringing the change in the beliefs which are deep rooted, assumptions, perception, values and shared feelings etc which influence the decision process of the organization. In short we can say that application of changes in the prevailing or existing culture leads to cultural change. Lean manufacturing bring the cultural change through the application of 5S, SIX SIGMA, KAZINE etc which change the route of the organization and lead organization to achieve optimum level goals. 2.1 EXPENSIVE: lean manufacturing is a expensive process as implementation of lean strategies in the organization involve huge expenditure example applying kazine, just in time, 5s, six sigma in organization involve stopping up of daily routine, new mindset are needed, new philosophy and so on. Moreover lean aims at reducing WASTES this process of reducing waste is also very expensive and many small industries may not opt lean. 2.2 MISSING OUT SOME OF THE TOOLS: Lean cannot be implemented successfully if their applications are missing because every different application have different set of goals and objectives which cannot be achieved by other applications like six sigma cannot substitute cell manufacturing and so on. Thus we can say that foundation for the successes of lean are lay down by the proper implementation and understanding of all its applications. 2.3 NORMAL PRODUTION: Lean manufacturing do disturb the normal production as applying lean involve setting up of entirely new procedures and application. As a result the normal production process is disturbed for some period. It may consider as a barrier because applying lean would require some time for effective performance. Till the time lean produces effective result it is considered as a barrier. 2.4 ROLE OF PERSONAL SKILLS: Lean manufacturing aims at bringing change and this change would work efficiently only when human resource involved in lean manufacturing are having some widely common personal skills. Personal skills like working in a team, working along with team, communication, problem handling etc are utmost important for people in lean manufacturing. If people of any organization lack in such personal skills than in such a condition these skill would act as a barrier for lean manufacturing. 2.5 EFFECTIVE MANGEMENT LEADERSHIP: Moyles (2006) demonstrates that Effective management leadership is very crucial for the organization as in the absence of the leadership the employee will do what they wish like moreover they may refused to achieve the goals set by lean manufacturing. Lack of leadership control in organization would led to delay in results, Delay in task operation, delay in achievement of goals. Thus an effective management control is necessary for organization otherwise it will act like a barrier. 3. CHALLANGES FACEDE BY BAJAJ (INDIA) IN ACCORDANCE TO ITS PRODUCT: Bajaj one of the leading company of two wheelers in India. Bajaj in India aims at achieving customer satisfaction. The prim motive of Bajaj motors in India is customer satisfaction first and then profit. But Bajaj motors made one wrong decision that was launching Baja pulsar200 which proved as a threat to the company soon after it was launched as customer problem with Bajaj was rising day by day and was hampering the company image. The prime challenges faced by BAJAJ MOTRS were its product named Bajaj pulsar 200. This particular product was refused by market due to following reasons: 1: Poor handling poor handing of Baja pulsar 200 was a major problem as its cutting on the curve was quite difficult and as a result it leads to many major accident and thus creating a wrong or negative image in mind regarding the product and company. 2: Start up problem which is faced by Bajaj pulsar 200 was the starting problem especially during winters as Baja pulsar 200 was not having a kick to start and itself starter was not that good. 3: The other major drawbacks faced by Bajaj pulsar 200 was its look. It dint look attractive at all infact it was bulky and dish aped. 4: uncomfortable while riding this problem was usually felt during the long ride as it seat are divided into two sections which make it more uncomfortable and inconvenient while riding. 5: Problem with gear pattern which make inconvenient for rider in shifting the gear while riding and this again lead to large number of accident of the riders. 6: The other major issue with the bike was its average its average was not that good in comparison with the other bike in the same segment. All the above mentioned problems were in accordance to manufacturing process. The impact of failure of Bajaj 200 was so powerful that the entire image of Bajaj was getting down in customer mind as a result Bajaj pulsar 200 was totally banned by Baja motors in India and new product named Bajaj pulsar 220 was added to the list. 3.1 APPROACH FOR THE REMEDIES: The best approach for the quality improvement is ISO 9000. If Bajaj would have followed this certification there would have been no reason to shutdown pulsar 200. As this certification would have sort all the manufacturing problem through quality standardization and as a result product problem would have been sort out and customer friendly product would have been made. 3.2 PERMANENT STRATEGY: In accordance to my knowledge and views Bajaj motors should permanently adopt ISO 9000 because at present products of Bajaj motors like pulsar 220, pulsar 150, pulsar 180, pulsar dtsi faces the same common problem of handling and repair which were in pulsar 200. Application of ISO 9000 would help the Bajaj motors to overcome the quality defects at manufacturing stage and moreover the standard would be set below which nothing would be acceptable by the organization thus problem would be sort out within the organization. In the other hand company will be beneficial in marketing as being ISO certified. 4. KAIZEN: Alukal et al. (2006) states that Kaizen is a Japanese concept of management. The meaning of kaizen is in it word only kai (which means change) and Zen (which means good or better) i.e. bringing in the change which is good for the organization. Kaizen is a continuous process of bringing in small small change that accounts for very big and positive results. And it is based on the phenomena that every single phase of our life need little but constant changes. 4.1 MAJOR OBJECTIVE OF KAIZEN as mentioned by Alukal et al. (2006) 1: Aims at providing world class manufacturing process is to the concern in which it is applied as change are effective only on those manufacturing concern where manufacturing process is of world class standards and in accordance to the prevailing technology. 2: Aims at improving quality improvement is the core of kaizen. According to kaizen phenomena no matter how small or big the change is but there should be a change like keeping it simple and dynamic. 3: Aims to provide job environment safe and secure. Kaizen aims at providing safe healthy and secure work climate for its employees and management. As change is effective in a place where people are supportive and environment is healthy. 4: Aims at eliminating waste, the most important objective of kaizen is to eliminate the waste (waste are the thing that things that do not add anything to the product still is the part of manufacturing process) this would enhance manufacturing process and would speed up the process moreover resources like men, money, time etc of the organization are saved and ultimately leading to the organizational profit. 4.2. JUST IN TIME: Lai et al. (2009) demonstrate that Just in time technique was developed by Toyota motors and this technique was copied at almost all manufacturing plant. JIT is a technique where in superior management is needed and large work force. Just in time technique is a phenomenon of making the raw material and finished products at the time they are needed i.e. eliminating the time lag. And it generates no substantial risk to the organization. 4.3. MAIN OBJECTIVES OF JUST IN TIME: 1: Maintain the proper stock level. It means that an adequate level of stock is maintained in the warehouses so that the holding cost and other expenses related to stock are all manageable and most importantly the need of the manufacturing concern are meet as an when needed. 2: Maintain proper or true position of inventory. It denotes that there should be no fake data recorded in the books. The data and facts recorded should denote the actual position of the stock. 4.4. TOTAL QUALITY MANGEMENT: Sashkin et al. (1993) states that Total quality management is a management phenomenon that seeks to full fill the need of the customer without compromising in quality like providing customer quality they want or better than what they want. It could be achieved with integration of quality related functions. This phenomenon is based on the concept that the set standards should be achieved and anything below the standards is not acceptable at all and anything above the set standards is appreciated. As a result no compromise is done with the product quality and ultimately the customer is satisfied as quality is set and based on the taste preference and requirement of the customers. 4.5. SIX SIGMA: Tennant (2001) demonstrates that six sigma is methodology developed by Motorola which emphasizes setting high objectives, collecting data and analyzing results to achieve the different way to reduce defects in products and services. It is important to find the appropriate method for the company to achieve the goal for quick response for the customer and increase the customer satisfaction. The requirement encouraged them to adopt either six sigma to improve process or Kaizen to reduce waste in process. However both have some limitations as a result company need to combine their strength. Six sigma focus on the quality improvement and satisfaction of the customer whereas Kaizen focus on elimination of waste which arise in process. However the Kaizen cannot put a process under statistical control and six sigma cannot increase process speed alone. 5. CONCLUSION By completing this report it is clear that the lean manufacturing play a very important role in organization. It helps to reduce waste and the process which is not necessary to reduce the production cost. It explains how to increase the efficiency of the organization.

Free Affirmative Action Essays - Affirmative Action is Reverse Discrimination :: affirmative action argumentative persuasive

Affirmative Action is Reverse Discrimination "That student was accepted because of affirmative action policies." With my first intake of the phrase, I realized that the student, whom I knew and worked with so many times, the one with such a lack of motivational ability, confidence, and ideas, was now occupying my chances towards a preferred school. "Affirmative action", I soon found out, was used by President John F. Kennedy over 30 years ago to imply equality and equal access to all, disregarding race, creed, color, or national origin. As a policy setting out to resolve the problems of discrimination, Affirmative Action is simply nothing more than a quota of reverse discrimination. Affirmative Action emphasizes prospective opportunity more towards statistical measures. It promotes the hiring and acceptance of less experienced jobs of the workforce and less able students. Sometimes the affirmative action policies forces employers and schools to choose the best workers and less privileged students of the minority, in all, regardless of their potential lack basic skills. As remarked by Maarten de Wit, an author who's article I found on the World Wide Web, affirmative action beneficiaries are "not the best pick, but only the best pick from a limited group." Another article I found, "Affirmative action: A Counter- Productive Policy" by Ernest Pasour also on the W.W.W., is one example which reveals that Duke, a very famous and prestigious university, adopted a resolution requiring each of it's department to hire at least one new African-American for a faculty position the 1993 date. More proofs of Affirmative Action in action is the admission practices at the University of California Berkeley. In the same article by Pasour, it states that while whites or Asian-Americans need at least a 3.7 grade point average through high school to be in consideration for admission in Berkeley, most minorities with much lower standards are automatically admitted. All the preferential treatment may provide a basis for employers, employees, as well as real applicable students to fight for an end to Affirmative Action. The development of more racial tensions are yet another part of the Affirmative Action policy. Tensions between blacks and whites and other racial groups at U.S. colleges are related to preferential treatment. Tensions at the workplace also deal with the toleration of race and sex

Career Development in Insurance Sector Essay

Potential for career development in insurance sector is most vibrant topic today. One Million plus persons are working today as an employees in Insurance sector and 5 Million plus persons are associated with this sector as Agents, Consultants, Surveyors, Loss Assessors, Underwriters, Claim Settlers, Salvage Dealers, Brokers, Sub-brokers, etc etc. The growth rate in Insurance Sector is more than 20% in last 3 years. There is huge potential for development in Insurance sector. The sector is under developed and penetration of insurance is very very low in the country compared to other developing and developed countries. India is leading towards one of the strongest economy of the world by 2020 and it is international phenomenon that insurance sector always booms along with growing economy. Insurance Services are the foundation for smooth functioning of all business & commercial activities. Insurance is the backbone of overall economy of the country. For the developing country like India where growth of the economy is at double digit rate, Insurance talent is inevitable. All Industries in this scenario can be monetarily well protected from all types of catastrophic and manmade risks. Insurance is a vehicle for growth in growing economies. The whole world is looking at India as one of the giant and Asian tiger in next 8 to 10 years. All this is true. But very interesting fact of the today is that no one is aware about the exact potential of career development and opportunities in Insurance Sector. This article is dedicated to find the facts and figures about career development opportunities in Insurance Sector in India. This is an effort to enlighten and guide the readers, employees, students, stake holders to understand the facts and facets of insurance sector and how one can develop long term career in Insurance Sector. The article will review all aspects of insurance sector and discuss †¢ Opportunities for Career Development †¢ Growth potential in Insurance Sector †¢ Changing Scenario of Insurance Sector †¢ Manpower & Skill Sets Required by Insurance Sector †¢ Regulatory Changes in Insurance Sector †¢ New trends and Developments †¢ International Impacts †¢ Present Academic Scenario †¢ Available Educational Facilities †¢ Recent Educational & Academic Developments †¢ Speed and growth cycles of career enhancement in Insurance Sector †¢ Salary Packages at Entry Levels, Middle Level and Top Level †¢ How to improve Employibility and Skill Sets †¢ Career Opportunities Outside India †¢ Subsectors in Insurance for Career Development †¢ Preparing Career Development Path in Insurance Sector †¢ Challenges & Opportunities for Career Development in Insurance Sector, †¢ FAQs i.e. Frequently Asked Questions @ Career Opportunities in Insurance Sector, etc After 25 years of experience in Insurance Sector and witnessing the changing scenario of insurance sector after IRDA, I have noticed that the present and future workforce in Insurance sector is totally puzzled about the career enhancement and confused to find a road map for growth. Thousands of Career Fairs & Exhibitions across the country are covering all sectors for career opportunities like IT, BPO, ITES, Engineering, Automobile, Management, Finance, Medical, Health Care, Accounts, Law, Company affairs, etc, nobody is talking about insurance sector for career development. People believe that insurance is a small part of finance sector and it need not be cared beyond mere selling of insurance prod ucts. Unfortunately I have to state that working employees, students, parents, media, academicians, colleges, universities, top executives of insurance sector and society as a whole are not aware about the exact potential and scope of career enhancement in Insurance Sector. Working in insurance sector is always a secondary thought and society hesitate to honour career in insurance sector. Association in insurance activity is always presumed as below status career. This prejudice attitude towards insurance sector is a great harm for new entrants and career growth of current workforce. This is ironical that due to this negative attitude, the new generation is neglecting and under estimating a golden opportunity of developing gorgeous career in insurance sector. It is more unfortunate that after more than 100 years of commencement of insurance business activity in our country, the academicians, regulators and top executives in Insurance Sector have ignored the need and importance of improving the brand image of insurance sector. Growth Potential in Insurance Sector in India * Insurance is one of the fastest growing sector in India. Hardly 6 % of the population of the country has covered by life Insurance. The penetration is as low as 0.9 % in general insurance. Health Insurance has reached to merely 3 % of the population. In country like USA, where the population is @ 35 Crores, there are more than 6000 companies are engaged in insurance business. In India, population is more than 110 crores and hardly 52 companies are working in Insurance Sector. If we assume that only 50% population is insurable, still we need 10,000 companies to cater the need of 55 Crore people. Only Life Insurance sector has grown to certain extent and people say that I wish to purchase LIC policy for my car or LIC policy for stocks in my factory. Only compulsory policies of general insurance sector have been sold like motor policies and fire and industrial policies. Large number of general insurance products are not even known to the employees of general insurance companies. Thanks to electro mechanical equipments, scientific development and commercialization of medical profession, health insurance penetration has reached to 3 % of population. Still this number is very poor comparing to developed countries. Central Government has targeted Life Insurance Penetration to 40 %, Health Insurance at 30 % and General Insurance at 15 % of the population by 2030. This will create very huge potential for development in insurance Sector. The insurance business was merely 12 Billion US $ by 2000 which has reached to approximately 100 Billion US $ by 2012 and is now expected to grow 1000 Billion US $ by 2020 and 5000 Billion US $ by 2030. * Approval of Bill of 49% FDI in Insurance sector is long awaited. Once it is enacted, the number of insurance companies may rise to @ 150 to 200 in next 7-8 years. There is immense potential for insurance industry to grow. At present there are 24 Life, 27 Non Life and 1 Reinsurance, thus total 52 Insurance companies are in insurance business. Out of this, 4 companies are working exclusively as Health Insurance Companies. 334 insurance broking companies, 800+ corporate agents and thousands of banks have entered in insurance business. Third Party Administer (TPAs) Companies in Health Sector are 29 and TPAs growing in Automobile and Legal Sector. The specialized functions in insurance sector are slowly outsourced and lot many new companies will enter in this area. International insurance surveyors, loss assessors, adjuster, underwriters, claim settlers, have already entered in India and expanding their business activities. Even the world insurance and finance giants like Warren Buffet, Lloyds, Munich Re, Swiss Re, have entered in India. * Health insurance is developing as separate branch of Insurance. It is expected that the number of health insurance companies will be equal to the number of life insurance companies in near future. Bancassurance is also developing as Separate branch of Insurance. People is India have more faith in banks than insurance agents. Many banks have already entered into insurance business and lot more in pipeline. Banks find insurance as growth vehicle. At present only GIC of India is the reinsurance company in the country. But government is now thinking over allowing many more international reinsurance companies in India. In few years, we may find 5 independent branches of insurance in India as Life, General, Health, Bancassurance & Reinsurance. * India is becoming Insurance Hub of the world. Giant insurance companies from across the globe are outsourcing core insurance functions to India. IT infrastructure in the country and new generation Indian Talent are attracting world insurance business for core functions for cost effective solutions. Indian software companies are leading in this race. Even BPO in Insurance Sector is growing very fast. All this require technical and domain skills sets of Insurance functions. This IT, ITES and BPO business in Insurance Sector from outside India is expected to rise to 1000 Billion US $ by 2025 It is believed that next boom is in insurance sector. Insurance will play key role in boosting economy further. In India, next 25 years will be dominated by Insurance Sector. The growth is expected at horizontal as well as vertical levels. It will be from inside the country and from outside the country. Changing Scenario in Insurance Business in India * Insurance was strictly dominated by Agents and Development officers till 2000. But IRDA has opened up new distribution channels such as Corporate Agent, Insurance Broker, Bancassurance, Mallasurance, Online Sale of Insurance, Direct Sale, etc. These new channels are growth engines of the insurance industry. One interesting aspect of this growth is that Insurance Sector is heading towards SERVICING from merely Selling. The mantra of â€Å"Sell it and Forget it† is now converting as â€Å"Service & Retain Client†. This requires Core insurance knowledge and not merely Selling Expertise. * The commission rates of insurance agents are slowly getting downward trend. The servicing of client is now taken care by customer servicing department. The Technology has now key role in policyholders servicing and provides better knowledge and expertise than agents. Companies are now offering new gate ways for renewal commissions like through internet banking, ATMs, ECS, Mobile banking, etc. It has reduced the dependency of policyholders on agents for timely renewal of existing policies. * Government is slowly removing the Income Tax rebates from insurance policies. It has already signaled the same and introduced few provisions in current budget by restricting the percentage of amount of premium with the sum assured of any policy. * Product Development and new innovative policies has changed the olden rules of the selling game. Merely begging for insurance or forcing a policy will not exist anymore. The 35 % commissioned policy selling dominance will be eroded. . * Insurance is Risk Cover or Investment is a matter of debate but common policyholder is now diverting to PURE Insurance products such as Term Insurance. The ULIP Story between IRDA and SEBI has focused on a need of domain insurance talent. * There is certainly reasonable improvement in policyholder’s awareness and knowledge about insurance. Government, IRDA and NGOs like FIBLI, insurance companies and related stake holders are concentrating on customer education, literacy and awareness about insurance products and services through advertisements, seminars, workshops, comics, e-literature, animated films, etc. * As Insurance need is vertical as well as horizontal, the insurance business is spreading across the country. Insurance companies are focusing and spreading network in rural markets as it has huge potential. Technological development is helping this drive of rural expansion. * Health Insurance and Bancassurance sectors will grow drastically. General Insurance Sector will also develop. In life Insurance Sector, Term Insurance Business will dominate. * In future, Online Insurance will have a key role in new business. * It will be difficult to get insurance claims in future. There will be huge scope for Claim consultants who will help people to get insurance claims. * Insurance sector will slowly dominate the economy and there will be overall developments in insurance sector. There will huge revenue generation form insurance business in India as well as outsourced insurance business from outside India. Employability Potential in Insurance Sector As insurance sector is growing with 20% rate, there will be a huge requirement of Insurance professionals in the country. * NSDC Report – National Skill Development Corporation has estimated the job creations of 2 Million persons in insurance and banking sector by 2021 in its latest report. * CII Report – The recent survey of Confederation of Indian Industries estimated that there is a need of @ 21 lakhs insurance educated employees by 2025. * ASSOCHEM Report on Insurance Sector – It has pointed out on employability potential in Insurance Sector in its latest report. The report has estimated manpower requirement to be 30 Lakhs by 2030. The job creation in insurance sector will be across the country as insurance business is spreading across the country. The innovative distribution channels will play a vital role in insurance penetration and of course, technology will be a great supportive tool for this development. The manpower is required across the country. Insurance companies, banks and financial services providers are focusing and spreading network in rural markets as it has huge potential. It will generate huge employability not only at Metro and urban areas but at semi urban and rural levels, too. At present there are 52 companies, 334 brokers, 1200 + banks, 29 TPAs, 2000 IT, ITES & BPO companies, 400 surveyor and other insurance services provider companies are working in India. The number will rise to double or triple in next 8 to 10 years. These companies will have offices across the country and will generate jobs across the country. Career Development Path in Insurance Sector Till IRDA, insurance career was dominated by selling activity. It is the assumed misconception that any career in insurance sector will have to be connected with selling of insurance products. The Insurance Agents and Development Officers community in the country has coloured insurance policy selling with either begging of insurance or forcing for insurance. The rebating in insurance premium has eroded insurance profession as under privileged one. After IRDA and entry of corporate insurance companies, the face of insurance career was always compared with the face of poor insurance agent. Career in Insurance was always neglected one and approach towards it was one of the ridiculous one. But the situation is now changing drastically. Career in Insurance is not merely a selling activity. Insurance Sector require domain technical knowledge. The employees with core insurance competency can only grow henceforth. After a decade of privatization, corporate companies have understood that insurance is not a FMCG product and one must possess technical skills and fundamental knowledge to exist & grow in this market. Servicing will be key for growth and for this, one require domain expertise. For new entrants, any graduation with specialized diploma in insurance domain like underwriting, claims, motor insurance, health insurance, bancassurance, reinsurance, liability insurance, aviation insurance, engineering insurance, agricultural insurance, marine insurance, etc will be helpful to enter in insurance sector. One has to improve his academic qualification and scope of skills by adding various diplomas from various streams of insurance. As one grows with experience, this academic excellence and expansion will improve his employibilty and scope of promotions and growth. For existing employees, one has to improve his academic position along with experience. Mere experience will not help beyond certain limit. As we expect 49 % FDI and steep increase in number of insurance companies, the existing employees will have clear advantage to grow. But for this, they must obtain domains skills and competency through academic enhancement. The present employee in insurance sector should focus on overall and multi dimensional development in his capacities, skill sets and academic qualifications. The candidate with multifaceted core skills will have better opportunities over general candidate. He should not limit himself only to underwriting or claims. He should always seek for more and more knowledge. One can select a sector of insurance like Life or general or health for developing his career path but he should be equipped with qualifications and skills of other sectors also. It will widen the scope of opportunities available to him. Salary Packages In Insurance Sector As per the present scenario in Insurance Sector, one may join insurance company at entry level with a annual package of @ Rs.1.2 lakh to 1.5 Lakh. He may be designated as Associate or Assistant. In 3-4 years, he may grow to higher position with a scale of Rs. 3 to 4 Lakhs if he has academic qualifications with experience. After 6-8 years after joining insurance, one may easily grow to annual package of 7 to 10 Lakhs. After 12 to 15 years, one may dream to annual package of Rs.15 to 20 Lakhs. Of course, this needs academic up gradation and continuous improvement of domain skills. This trend may continue for next 20 years as there is long term and inside outside country potential. The speed of career growth and expansion is smooth and fast in insurance sector than perhaps any other sector in the country. But it needs hard work, academic excellence and aggressive approach towards opportunities. I will share one practical example here. The employees who joined insurance sector in the newly entrant companies like Bajaj Allianz, HDFC, ICICI etc between 2001 to 2003 were drawing annual salary package of 1.5 to 2.5 lakhs. They are now grown to key positions in new companies after 8 to 10 years with annual packages of Rs.20 to 25 Lakhs. Some of them have even clinched packages of 40 to 50 Lakhs per annum. Skill Sets Requirements by Insurance Sector At present, man power requirements are basically skilled based. Employees with academic qualifications are encouraged for promotions. Fresher with academic qualification in insurance are preferred. At present, Insurance Companies recruit freshers and train them for 6 months or one year. But the attrition rate is so high that more than 42 % of new recruits leaves the company. Insurance companies are seriously concerned over the expenditure on training and the rate of turnout. They are looking for employees who have been already trained and having domain academic qualifications. Insurance Companies have found that domain knowledge will improve selling, servicing, operations and all other functions. New companies prefer persons with experience and academic qualifications. Skill sets required by the insurance sector are underwriting skills, claim handling skills, operational skills, servicing skills, risk assessment and classification skills, insurance product skills, distribution channel operating skills, coordination skills, IT skills with domain knowledge, insurance accountancy skills, etc.

Octane Service Station Essay

On March 15, Julio Trevino signed a lease agreement to operate a gasoline service station that was owned by the Octane Oil Company (here after, simply â€Å"Octane†). Trevino had contacted the regional sales manager of Octane in response to an advertisement that solicited applicants â€Å"with $25,000 to invest† to lease and operate a newly erected Octane gasoline service station. Trevino had been able to accumulate approximately $32,000 for investment purposes as a result of a $25,000 inheritance and savings on the salary of $865 per week he earned as manager of a service station operated as a separate department of a J.C. Penney store. Most of this $32,000 was held in government bonds. The regional sales manager for Octane was impressed with Trevino’s personal and financial qualifications, and after several interviews, a lease agreement was signed. During one of these meetings the sales manager informed Trevino that the new station would be ready for occupancy on May 1st at a total investment cost of $300,000. Of this amount, $100,000 had already been paid for land, and a total of $200,000 would be spent for a building that would be â€Å"good for about 40 years†. In discussing profit potential, the sales manager pointed out that Octane’s national advertising program and the consumer appeal generated by the attractive station â€Å"will be worth at least $30,000 a year to you in consumer goodwill.† The lease agreement stipulated that Trevino pay a rental of $1,250 per month for the station plus $0.04 for each gallon of gasoline delivered t the station by Octane1. A separate agreement was also signed whereby Octane agreed to sell and Trevino agreed to buy a certain minimum quantities of gasoline and other automotive products for the service station operation. As both evidence of good faith and as a prepayment on certain obligations that he would shortly incur to Octane, Trevino was required to deposit $20,000 with Octane at the time the lease was signed. Trevino raised the cash for this deposit by liquidating government bonds. Octane used most of this money to defray certain obligations incurred by Trevino to  the oil company prior to the opening of the new station. The deductions from the $20,000 deposits were applied as follow: 1 The lease, which covered a period of one year beginning May 1, was automatically renewable unless notice of cancellation was given by either party at lease 30 days prior to an anniversary date. The regional sales manager of the Octane Oil Company estimated that approximately 150,000 gallons of gasoline would be delivered to Trevino’s Service Station during the first 12 months of operations. Subsequently, Trevino’s records revealed that 27,000 gallons (including the initial inventory) were actually delivered during the first two months of operation. The equipment, including floor and hydraulic jacks, a battery charger, tune-up sets, and oil and grease guns, became Trevino’s property. A representative of the oil company stated that this equipment would last about five years. The unpaid, non-interest bearing balance of $10,300 Trevino owed Octane for equipment was to be paid in five semi-annual installments of $2,060 each. The first such payment was due November 1. The $2,755 remaining from the $20,000 originally deposited with Octane was returned to Trevino on April 30. He deposited this money in a special checking account he had set up for his service station venture. Just before opening for business on May 1, Trevino converted some additional government bonds into $7,000 cash which he also placed in the service station account. Prior to May 1, he wrote the following checks: $1,650 for office furniture that had an expected life of 10 years, and $900 for a fire and casualty insurance policy providing coverage for a one year period beginning May 1. On April 30, Trevino transferred $200 from the service station checking account to the cash drawer at the service station. It was Trevino’s intention to deposit in the bank all but $200 of the cash on hand at the close of each business day. The balance in the service station checking account at the start of business was, therefore, $7,005. In addition, Trevino had $2,700 in a savings account. On May 1, the service station was opened for business. In his effort to build up clientele, Trevino worked approximately 60 hours per week compared with 40 in his previous job. In addition, three other people were employed on either a full or part-time basis. Trevino was reasonably satisfied with the patronage he was able to build up during the first two months the station was open. At the end of June, however, he felt it would be desirable to take a more careful look at how he was making out in his new business venture. Trevino felt that he should record his progress and present position in a form that would be useful not only at the present time but also for comparative purposes in the future, perhaps a six months intervals ending on June 30 and December 31. Trevino maintained a simple record keeping system in which cash receipts and cash payments were itemized daily in a loose-leaf notebook. Separate pages were reserved for specific items in this notebook. During the months of May and June, the following cash receipts and payments had been recorded: The $500 listed in cash receipts as rental from parking area had been receive from an adjacent business establishment that used one portion of the service station site as a parking space for certain of its employees. The rental received covered a period extending from May 15 to July 15. In addition to the record of cash receipts and payments, a detailed listing was kept of the amounts of money that were due from, or owed to, other individuals or companies. An analysis of these records revealed that $143 was due the business for gas, oil, and car servicing from a wealthy  widow friend of the Trevino family who preferred to deal on a credit basis. Also, on the evening of June 30, one of the employees completed waxing a car for a regular customer who was out of town and would be unable to call for his car until July 3. Trevino had quoted a price of $56 for this job. Trevino recalled that when he once worked at an automobile agency, he had heard that setting up a reserve for bad debts equal to two percent of all outstanding accounts was a good idea. Trevino had also jotted down the fact that he and his family had used gas and oil from the service station worth $101 at retail prices, for which no payment had been made. Approximately $79 had been paid to Octane Oil Company for this merchandise. A further summary of his records revealed the following unpaid bills resulting from operations in June: The service station’s employees had last been paid on Saturday, June 28, for services rendered through Saturday evening. Wages earned on June 29 and 30 would amount to $232 in the following Saturday’s payroll. Trevino took a physical inventory on the evening of June 20, and he found gasoline, motor oil, grease, tires, batteries, and accessories on hand that had cost $10,018. While Trevino was figuring his inventory position, he compared his recorded gallonage sales of gasoline on hand at the end of  the period against the volume of gasoline at the beginning inventory plus deliveries. In this manner, Trevino ascertained that shrinkage due to evaporation, temperature changes, waste and other causes amounted to 302 gallons of gasoline that he estimated had cost $360. Late in June, Trevino’s married son realized that he would be unable, because of prolonged illness to make payment of $192 for interest expense and $800 for principal repayment on a $2,400 bank loan. Trevino, who had acted as co-signer on the note, would be obligated to meet this payment on July 1.