Fiscal Federalism in Nigeria Essay Example for Free

Fiscal Federalism in Nigeria Essay The question of an acceptable formula for revenue sharing among the component tiers of the Nigerian nation is one of the most protracted and controversial debates in the political and macroeconomic management of the economy. This debate has its foundations in the history and evolution of the Nigerian federation. â€Å"Revenue allocation or the statutory distribution of revenue from the Federation Account among the different levels of government has been one of the most contentious and controversial issues in the nation’s political life. So contentious has the matter been that none of the formulae evolved at various times by a commission or by decree under different regimes since 1964 has gained general acceptability among the component units of the country. Indeed, the issue, like a recurring decimal, has painfully remained the first problem that nearly every incoming regime has had to grapple with since independence. In the process, as many as thirteen different attempts have been made in devising an acceptable revenue allocation formula, each of which is more remembered for the controversies it generated than issues settled† Fiscal federalism refers to the scope and structure of the tiers of government responsibilities and functions as well as the allocation of resources among the tiers of government. Perhaps the most important issue of fiscal federalism is the revenue allocation formula, the sharing of national revenue among the various tiers of government (vertical revenue sharing) as well as the distribution of revenue among the state governments (that is, horizontal revenue allocation). The centralization of Nigeria’s fiscal federalism began with the report of the Dina Commission (1968) which argued that an appropriate revenue allocation system should result in a more equitable distribution of revenue among the states to achieve a balanced development of the federation. Revenue allocation can be described as a method(s) of sharing the centrally generated revenue among the different tiers of government and how the amount allocated to a particular tier is shared among its components. Nigeria is a federal state – under the federal system of government, federation or centrally-generated revenue is shared among the three levels of government, namely; the federal government, the states and the local governments. The theory of revenue sharing in a federal state is that each level of government receives an allocation of financial resources tailored to their specific requirements as defined by the mandate of legislative competence, their actual situation and the statutory indices of calculation. In Nigeria, decisions as to what proportion of centrally-generated revenue that would be retained by the federal government, the proportion that will be shared among the state governments and the proportion that will go to the local government has always been a problem, due to the fact that there is no consensus of opinion as to what could be seen as an ideal formula. The principles that guide the implementation of intergovernmental fiscal relations include: (a) The Principle of Diversity: The federal system must have the ability to accommodate a large variety of diversities. Hence, the fiscal system must provide scope for variety and differences to supply national, regional and local public goods. (b) The Principle of Equivalence: Based on the geographical incidence of different public goods, allocative efficiency requires the equalization of locational advantages arising from inter-jurisdictional differences with a combination of taxes and public goods and services. This requires the use of fiscal instruments for achieving macroeconomic objectives of growth, stabilization and full employment by residents of different geopolitical units; this requirement controls for what is often referred to as â€Å"central city exploitation thesis†. (d) Minimum Provision of Essential Goods and Services: This ensures that fiscal federalism guarantees all citizens, irrespective of where they reside, the minimum provision of ertain basic public goods and services. (e) Principle of Fiscal Equalization: In order to ensure a minimum level of public goods and services same degree of fiscal equalization is required. This is as a result of differences in resource endowment. (f) The Efficiency Principle: This principle implies that efficiency must be applied in the allocation of resources (g) The Principle of Derivation: The component units of a system should be able to control some of its own resources as they desire. h) The Principle of Locational Neutrality: Interregional fiscal differences tend to influence location choices of individuals and firms. Therefore, policy should focus on minimizing distortions due to some interference. Hence, differential taxes which create locational distortions should be avoided as much as practicable. (i) The Principle of Centralized Redistribution: This principle states that the redistribution function of fiscal policy through progressive taxation and expenditure programmes should be centralized at the federal level. That is, if the redistributive function is decentralized, it can result in distortions in location decisions. It should be noted that the above principles are not mutually consistent. There are several challenges and contending issues confronting intergovernmental fiscal relations in Nigeria: 1) Non – Correspondence Problem Ideally, each level of government should be given adequate resources to allow it discharge its responsibilities. Because this is not possible, there is usually a lack of correspondence between the spending responsibilities and the tax powers/revenue sources assigned to different levels of government. It is this incongruence that is often referred to as the non-correspondence problem. In Nigeria, most of the major sources of revenue come under the jurisdiction of the federal government yet lower levels of government are supposed to generate internal revenue. There is, therefore, the need to resolve the imbalance between assigned functions and tax powers. The issues concerning fiscal relations among the constituent units of the Nigerian federation that remain mostly unresolved are the divergence between assigned functions and tax powers, principle of horizontal and vertical revenue allocation, dependence of states and local governments on federal sources of funding, tendency towards concentration and federal presence in the states (Fadahunsi, 1998). The five principles currently applied in the horizontal revenue allocation formula are far from acceptable to all the stakeholders. 2) Fiscal Autonomy and Independence The issue of relative fiscal autonomy and independence of the state and local governments in a true federal structure goes with the corollary issue of the correspondence of governmental functions and revenue sources. Since the creation of the twelve-state structure in 1967, states and local governments have been excessively dependent on the Federation Account. This independence must be reduced if the federating units are to be free to pursue their own development goals without being hampered by the unpredictable fluctuations in their shares of the Federation Account. It is important that revenue sources should be reallocated and made compatible with the fluctuations stated for each tier of government to enhance steady and proper funding of administrative and developmental activities instead of the often experienced unexpected financial constrictions at the two lower tiers of government. 3) Oil Producing States, Oil Producing Local Government Administrative Areas or Communities Professor Omo Omoruyi in his treatise â€Å"the Politics of Oil: who owns the oil, Nigeria, states or communities† (2000) raised three salient questions on true ownership of oil in Nigeria. The question of local control over local resources is an established constitutional principle in federal systems. But the way the Nigerian federal system developed under the external colonial order (1954-60) and continued under the period of geo-ethno-military internal colonial order (1960-1999) and in the democratic dispensation between 1999 to date is yet an unresolved contending issues in the discourse about Nigeria’s federalism. He challenged the â€Å"Tripod† approach to Nigeria’s problem where the three major ethnic nationalities decide the content and the trend of national issues. This tripod approach to Nigerian politics, should have been done away with by now, with the introduction of the notion of ‘federal character’, which takes states in the federation as the units of representation. The tripod approach to Nigerian politics applies to how the oil, which comes from the non-majority areas, is approached in the political and economic discourse. We should also be aware of the feeling among the majority ethnic nationalities that the areas producing oil by virtue of powerlessness in the military and politics should not be allowed to lay claim to the oil from their areas as of right†. However, theres a distinction between oil producing communities and oil producing states. This is the basis of the activities of the Traditional Rulers of the Producing Communities who are dealing with the President and want the money due to states on the basis of the 13% derivation in the Constitution should be paid to the â€Å"oil producing communities/local government areas†. The Traditional Rulers’ argument is that â€Å"communities† own oil and not â€Å"states†. This is an unresolved issue and separates the communities in riverside areas directly affected by oil spillages from their compatriots in landed areas from enjoying the full benefits of allocations to producing states. One does not know the end of this argument. How should the National Assembly address this matter? The federal government should find a way of making the oil producing local government administrative areas as shareholders in the joint venture arrangements with the oil companies, thus making them stakeholders in the oil industry. There was the issue of who should be spending the oil money. Should it be the Nigerian government in conjunction with the oil producing areas? Should it be the oil producing areas alone? The Constitution from 1960 till after the civil war up till 1978 gave the right of ownership to the federal government but the proceeds were shared between the federal government and the regions or states on the basis of derivation like the agricultural crops. 4) Federation Account and the Derivation Fund It is important to define what constitutes the Federation Account – to which the various vertical revenue allocation formulae have been applied and what should be directly financed from it. Up to 1990, the amount accruing yearly to the Federation Account was still over 96% of totally federally collected revenue; but since 1991, when it first dropped to about 75% and nose-dived to around 35% by 1997, it showed no sign of recovery (Olowononi, 1999). It is therefore clear, that in such a situation, whatever the vertical formula applicable, there must still be a serious fiscal imbalance between the ederal government and the two lower tiers of government. It is crucial to redress this revenue imbalance in the spirit of balanced true federalism. What appears to account for this imbalance is the assertion of the self-claimed right by the federal government to finance various first-line charges from the Federation Account before the application of the vertical formula. The first-line charges include funding for external debt service, national priority projects, NNPC priority projects, special reserve account, and excess proceeds of the crude oil sales account, and in addition, the joint venture cash calls account. These deductions are made from the proceeds of crude oil sales before the derivation fund in the Federation Account is arrived at, and after which further deductions for special funds and the funding of the federal capital territory are made. It will seem more logical, with the exception of the joint venture case calls, that these various charges which are federal government obligations be financed solely from the federal government’s revenue proper, that is, from its share of the Federation Account or from its revenue from other sources. Therefore, in order to determine what constitutes the derivation fund, resolving the issue of the Federation Account is crucial. Thereafter, the derivation formula to be utilized can be arrived at. 5) Oil – Producing Areas and the Derivation Principle The crude oil production has been the most important economic activity in the Nigerian economy since the early 1970s is not subject to debate. Its impact is not limited to its contributing almost 90% of Nigeria’s total foreign exchange earnings but also to the fact that the national budgets are predicated on the expected annual production and price of crude oil.

Pollution in China Essay Example for Free

Pollution in China Essay Introduction China, with its rapid industrialisation seems to have paid its price by witnessing steeply rising levels of pollution. With millions of largely unregulated industries, the vast rivers, streams and lakes have become easy avenues for chemical, textile and tanning industries to discharge their toxic contents at will. The paper discusses the pollution in China, its impact on the environment and how it has affected the lives of people.   An Overview of Pollution in China   A report by the World Bank (China 2007) has pointed out that China is facing increased levels of pollution that has kept pace with the rising industrialisation of rural China. The report points out that the use of energy in China has went up by 70 % between 2000 and 2005. The use of coal has also increased by 75% and this has created a corresponding increase in the air pollution. The report points out that China’s emissions of SO2 and soot were respectively 42 percent and 11 percent higher making it the largest polluter in the world. The report also points out that pollution of water, rivers, lakes has also increased to alarming levels. Water pollution is also a cause for serious concern and during 2001 and 2005, about 54 percent of the seven main rivers in China contained water deemed unsafe for human consumption. The report points out that the economic burden of premature mortality and morbidity due to air pollution was157.3 billion Yuan in 2003, or 1.16 percent of by WHO. The report suggests that pollution costs China more than 147 billion Yuan a year in the form of increased health related costs. A report from CBS news says â€Å"Chinas air pollution seems like a problem just for that country, think again. The stuff spewing out in China has now been detected in the United States, and some suspect its beginning to affect the U.S. climate Chinas far-reaching dust and soot cloud travelling to the West Coast hits Hawaii first, and that may be why temperatures in Hawaii are rising. A lot of early-computer modelling of Chinese pollutions effects on the global climate is turning out to be just plain wrong. This is why a massive new study with ground and air monitoring across Asia starts next year† (Yinchaun, 31 March 2000). Following table shows the air quality in China Table 1. Trends in Air Quality in China’s Cities (%) (China, 2007) The following table shows the distribution of particulate matter in air Table 2. Distribution of PM10 and SO2 Levels in 341 Cities, 2003 and 2004 (China, 2007)   The list of pollutants that infect China re provided in the following table. Table 4. List of major pollutants and their categories (China, 2007)   Clare (Clare D’Souza, 2002) reports that â€Å"Energy consumption, especially coal consumption, is the main source of air pollutants such as particles, SO2, NOx, and CO in most cities of China. As the primary energy source, coal has accounted for about 65 to 70 percent (China Statistical Yearbook 2004) of total energy consumption in recent years, which has caused many environmental and human health problems. Crude oil consumption has been increasing because of the rapid expansion of the motor vehicle fleet in many cities. In recent years, epidemiological studies conducted around the world have demonstrated that there are close associations between air pollution and health outcomes. PM10 and SO2 are chosen in many studies as the indicative pollutants for evaluating the health effects of ambient air pollution. Although the mechanisms are not fully understood, epidemiological evidence suggests that outdoor air pollution is a contributing cause of morbidity and mortality. Epidemiological studies have found consistent and coherent associations between air pollution and various outcomes, including respiratory symptoms, reduced lung function, chronic bronchitis, and mortality†. The author suggests that industry â€Å"size† is controversial with respect to environmental issues. In some studies large enterprises have been deemed to be more pollution intensive in comparison with small enterprises. The author reports that small enterprises as being more environmentally friendly due to their size and found small plants to be far more pollution intensive because they are difficult and costly to regulate. Empirical research has suggested that enterprise size is inversely correlated with emissions intensity in developing countries. World Bank and other institutions have found that small enterprises are pollution intensive (Mani, 1997).   Karshenas (1992 author has pointed that the Winter’s (model of business and the environment may be a more appropriate way of approaching the problem. According to the author, â€Å"enterprises may not have mastered perfection in terms of ecological sustainability but enterprises can make a systematic assessment of the areas where improvements can be introduced. Although Winter goes beyond traditional management theory, the model emphasizes ecologically sound processes and practices right throughout a firm, from company policy, employee relations, supply chain, public relations and marketing. A firm should consider prevention, reduction, recycling and disposal of wastes throughout its operations. They should use sustainable inputs in environmentally friendly manufacturing processes that result in greener outputs (i.e. maintaining environmentally friendly processes for a product from cradle to grave). This would prove to be profitable, provided that the end users, be they industry or consumers, are committed to using green products. Ideally, enterprises should take control of their own operational structure by viewing cleaner manufacturing as a competitive and strategic challenge, they should resort to manufacturing life-cycle analysis, environmental auditing and environmental reporting. The reality is that an enterprise cannot consider making a product ecologically sound without considering how its raw material acquisition, development, manufacturing, distribution, sales and disposal systems impact on the environment. The author suggests that has gone one step further by stating that managers in a green venture start from a different mindset. They recognise that becoming green is an opportunity to establish a unique position in a niche market or, by being able to produce a higher value product with fewer resources, to gain a competitive advantage. He proposed a trisect by which sustainable business is based on the concept of balancing ecological, economic and social factors†..   Action to fight pollution   The government of China has redoubled its efforts in fighting pollution and has organized task forces at the local levels. The structure is shown in the following figure. Figure 1. Main Government Partners in the Project   The report has identified a number of measures to fight pollution and these are displayed in the following table. Table 4. Sectors and Pollutants Included in the CECM (China, 2007) The team has implemented certain steps to fight the pollution and these are illustrated in the following figure.   Figure 2. Flow Chart for Estimating the Economic Cost of Pollution (China, 2007)   The following steps have been proposed: Step 1: Identify the pollution factors, polluted area, and related conditions. Step 2: Determine affected endpoints and establish dose-response relationships for pollution damage. Step 3: Estimate population (or other) exposures in polluted areas. Step 4: Estimate physical impacts from pollution using information from steps 2 and 3. Step 5: Convert pollution impacts in physical terms to pollution costs in monetary terms. Indiscreet reaction by the Chinese government Wang (Wang Xiangwei. 4 Jun 4, 2007) reports that the Chinese government is paranoid about maintaining a good image about China, for fears that it may hurt its business stakes. The author reports that the most convenient way for China to control pollution is by jailing activists who point out the problems of pollution. The author reports about the village of Wuxi and how it was affected by pollution. For hundreds of years, Wuxi , on the edge of Tai Lake, was the envy of the nation. In the heart of the Yangtze River delta and known as the land of fish and rice, it was bestowed with fertile land and abundant waterways, and was also home to famous poets, painters and industrialists. Since recently however, the city has become a stinking hell for its five million residents as a blue-green algal bloom from the heavily polluted lake contaminated the citys tap water, making it foul-smelling and undrinkable. After scrambling for six days with emergency measures, Wuxi officials said yesterday the tap water was drinkable. But the residents, who have relied on bottled water for drinking and cooking, have every reason to be suspicious. Xinhua has reported that after the usual cleaning aids such as activated carbon failed to remove the odour, the city adopted what Mayor Mao Xiaoping called a bold move by pouring huge amounts of potassium permanganate (Condys crystals) into water-intake points. This allowed the strong oxidising agent to remove foul-smelling matter from the pipes. But Xinhua failed to explain that potassium permanganate is hazardous and can be a health risk. As the Wuxi officials brazenly claimed credit for winning the battle against the water crisis, none of them yet had the decency to apologise to the suffering residents. All of them have blamed factors beyond their control higher- than-normal temperatures that helped to foster the growth of the algae, a lack of rain and favourable wind conditions, and the lowest water level in the lake in five decades. In fact, the fundamental cause of the crisis is the lakes heavy pollution as several mainland environmentalists have repeatedly warned the authorities in the past decade. Wu Lihong, 39, is one of them. He has spent large sums of his own money over the past 16 years collecting evidence of pollution at Tai Lake, the mainlands thirdlargest freshwater lake, and petitioning the local authorities to shut down the polluters. Now, with a water crisis on its hands, one would imagine any government that claims to put the people first would give Wu a medal of honour and make him a hero. Instead, Wu, known as the Tai Lake anti-pollution warrior in overseas media, is languishing in jail and awaiting trial on June 12 on trumped-up charges of blackmail. A farmer turned businessman who grew up in Zhoutie town in Yixing a small, booming industrial city under the jurisdiction of Wuxi Wu witnessed the lake turn into a cesspit. He then made it a personal crusade to petition authorities to shut down more than 2,000 chemical factories in Yixing that spewed toxic pollutants into the lake every day. By passing the local bureaucracy and filing reports to higher- level government officials has led to limited success he is welcomed, even liked by many central government officials and national media in Beijing. In 2005, he was chosen as one of mainlands top 10 environmentalists and honoured at a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People. But he incurred the wrath of local officials and has been constantly harassed by local policemen, officials and thugs. He was arrested again in April on charges of blackmail after the local officials set a trap for him. They offered him 40,000 yuan for a mission to attract investment from other mainland cities, and then laid charges of blackmailing the authorities. His lawyer, Zhu Xiaoyan , said that Wu had told her that he was whipped while in custody, and she was not allowed to see him until more than six weeks after his arrest. Like Gao Yaojie , a retired Henan doctor who refused to keep quiet about Aids, Wu has refused to stand down despite the threat of jail. The mainland leadership should learn from the fiasco of trying to muzzle Ms Gao and release Wu immediately.(Wang Xiangwei. 4 Jun 4, 2007).   Conclusion Pollution in China has assumed the proportion of an epidemic with wide ramifications on the health of the people, the environment, air and water. The paper has presented discussed various aspects of the problem and presented statistics to show the extent of pollution. Certain recommendations have also been made so that the pollution could be averted and reduced to some extent. References China, 2007. Cost of Pollution in China. Retrieved 18 January 2008 from www.worldbank.org/eapenvironment. Clare D’Souza, 2002. The nexus between industrialization and environment. Journal of Environmental Management and Health. Volume 13 Number 1 2002 pp. 80-97 Karshenas, M (1992), Environment development and employment: some conceptual issues, in Bhalla, A.S (Eds),Environment Development and Employment, WEP Study, ILO, Geneva, Mani, M, Pargal, S, Huq, M (1997), Does environmental regulation determine the location of new manufacturing?, World Bank, Washington, DC, Policy Research Working Paper Wang Xiangwei. 4 Jun 4, 2007. Release the man who first raised the alarm about Tai Lakes pollution China Briefing. South China Morning Post. Hong Kong. P. 5 Xinhua, 26 December 2006. Chinas Energy Conditions and Policies. Xinhua News Agency CEIS. p: 1 Yinchaun. 31 March 2000. A Global Problem: Chinas Pollution. Retrieved 18 January 2008 from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/03/31/archive/main178697.shtml

Tata Consultancy Services SWOT and PESTEL Analysis

Tata Consultancy Services SWOT and PESTEL Analysis Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) is the worlds leading global Information Technology consulting firm and business outsourcing organization that envisaged and forged the espousal of the flexible global business practices, which nowadays facilitate organizations to manoeuvre more professionally and construct more value. The IT industry was not has it is now when TCS started in the year 1968. TCS was started as the Tata Computer Centre a dissection of the Tata group whose chief business was to offer computer services to other concerns. TCS marked a tremendous growth with marking its presence in 34 countries across 6 continents, with a absolute range of services across diverse industrial fields. TCS ranked in top ten in the fortunes rank list for the year 2009. The concern shaped consolidated income of US $5.7 billion for economic year ended 31 March 2009 and is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange in India. TCS expanded into China, Hungary, Brazil, and Mexico in order to incarcerate the opportunities in financial services and services like Remote Infrastructure management and BPO in those countries, TCS always offered a unique manner to its global customers by positioning its brand in the worldwide market. The zenith of all these lead to the concerns contributions of TM Global Network Delivery Model(GNDM) across Europe, China, India, US and Latin America as well as incorporated full overhaul offerings, all backed by the promise of certainty of experience for customers. By 2007, the value enunciation of Experience certainty was officially initiated, acknowledged and authenticated by global customers. As the Indian financial system sustained to grow in the new century, the necessity for technology to constrain comprehensive augmentation became part of national schema. TCS, which had been spending additional, time in domestic IT from the time when its commencement was well located to assist the National Government at the central and state level, in its inventive proposals. TCS, by its own initiative shaped a digitized delivery system. In a manifestation of the companys ground-breaking spirit and with an aspiration to extend the benefits of the IT upraise across the country. TCS aptitude to convey high-quality overhauls and resolutions are matchless. It is the worlds first organization to accomplished an enterprise-wide Maturity Level 5 on both P-CMM and CMMI, using the most meticulous assessment methodology SCAMPISM. TCS Integrated Quality Management System integrates process, populace and technology maturity through various ascertained frameworks and traditions including ISO 9001 :2000, IEEE and SW-CMM, CMMI, 6-Sigma and P-CMM. For maximum flexibility, speediness, and competence, a vigorous IT strategy is essential. TCS contribution facilitates companies to construct the most of their IT investments from providing system testing solutions, application development, management services, and integration solutions. COMPANY BACKGROUND: TCS has the wide spread economical boundaries around 36 countries with seven physical centres of operations around the world. TCS was founded by Tata group which was established by jamstji Tata in 1868 an oldest and respected group of companies in India. The First chairman was Jahangir Ratanji Dadabhoy followed by Nani Palkhivala. The first general manager was F.C. Kohli. TCS first assigned to offer punch card services to a sister corporation, Tata Steel (TISCO). It later bagged the nations first domestic software project, the Inter-Branch Reconciliation System (IBRS) for the Central Bank of India. It has also provided bureau services to Unit Trust of India; as a result TCS became one of the first companies to offer BPO services. In the early 1970s; Tata Consultancy Services in full swing exporting its services. TCSs inaugural global order came from Burroughs, one of the first business computer manufacturers. TCS was assigned to write code for the Burroughs machines for numerous US-based clients. This knowledge helped TCS to bag its first onsite project the Institutional Group Information Company (IGIC), a data hub for ten banks, which served to two million clients in the US, TCS was assigned to assert and upgrade its computer systems. TCS holds the credit to set off the first software research and development centre, the Tata Research Development a nd Design Centre (TRDDC) in 1981and in 1985 the first client committed offshore development centre was established for Compaq. Early 90s was golden era for the Indian IT industry; they grew tremendously due to the Y2K virus and the introduction of Euro. TCS lead the way for industrial unit replica for Y2K conversion and built-up software tools which undertook the automatic conversion process and facilitated third-party developers and customers to use. In 1999, TCS fortified the opportunities in outsourcing the E-Commerce and the connected solutions and set up its E-Business division with ten people. In 2004 it illustrated a vigorous development of contributing half a billion US dollars to TCSs total revenue. In the year 2004, TCS was ranked under public sector, though much later than its competitors such as Infosys, Satyam and Wipro. TCS entered into a brand new area of IT services (Bioinformatics). The next two years that followed TCS aced a huge growth in progress both nationally and internationally. TCS assists some of the worlds major MNCs to take up the accurate technology-enabled solution that helps them: Optimize business recital Decrease product progress time Get better product differentiation Smooth the progress of arrangement of business with technology Join their extensive supply chains Offer real-time business handy Lesser functioning costs. Tata Consultancy Service Profile: Type: Public BSE: 532540 Founded: 1968 Headquarters: TCS House, Rave line Street, Fort, Mumbai 400 001 India Key people: Ratan Tata, (Chairman of the Board, Tata  Group) S Ramadorai, (CEO and Managing  Director) Jobhi Mahalingam, (Executive Director  and CFO) N Chandra, (Executive Director, COO, CEO   MD Designate) Phiroz Vandrewala,(Executive Director  and Head, Global Corporate Affairs) Ajoy Mukherjee, (Vice President and  Head, Global Human Resources) K Anantha Krishnan, (Vice President and  Chief Technology Officer) Services: Information Technology Consulting, IT Services, Outsourcing, BPO, Software Products Products: TCS Bancs, Digital Certification Products, Healthcare Management Systems. Revenue: US$ 6.019 billion (in FY 2009-10) Net income: US$ 1.128 billion (in FY 2009-10) Employees: 150,000 (As on 1 April, 2010) Website: http://www.tcs.com FINANCIAL POSE: TCS financially persists to demonstrate the steady stand in the top position of Indian IT firms. As the IT outsourcing market records more rapid growth pace, TCS expressed a steady growth rate in 2008-09, whose consolidated revenue grew by 23% to 27% which helped TCS to cross the $6 billion revenue milestone. TCS operating margins improved to 23.73% by 109 basis points. TCS have also increased its dividend share to Rs.14 in the last financial year. The TCS directors have also recommended an issue of bonus shares in 1:1 ratio and it was the second bonus issue since 2004. TCS completely focused in helping their customers relationship with them simultaneously adding fresh customers and penetrating in novel market segments and emerging verticals which made them to add 163 new customers internationally in the past year. TCSs foremost market North America crossed new high point of revenue above $3 billion and grew 26% in 2008-09 in spite of recession, While Europes branches faced a express growth of 38.5% during the same year. It is very significant for an organization to certify the differentiation of its revenue stand and to uphold its augment impetus. TCS always delivers that the 143,000 TCS employees are the supreme assets of all which includes 50,000 global associates from 67 countries and TCS trained 93,000 software professionals of which, 22,000 college graduates in the past academic year which was tremendous growth. TCS is incessantly investing to unlock new markets and services which made them to invest in emerging markets like Asia-pacific, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. The firms gigantic team of human resources is serving the TCSs panorama not only in business but also its contact on the community. TCS made an effective evolution in corporate sustainability. TCS persists to be a pioneer of growth for the reason of its established ability to reinvent the business and organisation. The concern is placed to exert in collaborative mode, significant assessing all that TCS does. TCS holds a strong position in the future IT global market. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE: A basic structure distributes responsibilities among the members of a company. Its purpose is to contribute to the successful implementation of objectives by allocating people and resources to necessary tasks and designing responsibility and authority for their control and coordination The three levels of organizations are technical level, managerial level and the community level. (Mullins, 2008) The organizations are differentiated based on the task, the employees work and the nature of company and its HR policies and conditions. A hierarchy is handled in order to treat people equally in companies; Treating equal is just that they are literally equal, In order to extract best from an employee, the person above him will treat them as one and the same to extract the maximum and best work from them Functional organization,  matrix organization, and  line organization  are three common types of organizational structure (Mullins, 2008). The main intention of organiza tions is to distribute the tasks; the main aspect is to preserve the relationship between employees of different stages in order to drive them towards the single task and to monitor the progress of the assigned task. The TCS have a very well designed organization. The organizations can be classified into two main divisions they are Centralization. Decentralization. Centralization A simple and effective execution of policies for an entire organization. Gives a reliable approach over the organization. Makes trouble-free organization and administration control Better employ of specialization including better amenities and paraphernalia. Decentralization Facilitated verdict is to be nearer to the operational level of work. Amplified receptiveness to local conditions. It persuades inspiration and confidence of the staff. Observance progress in compliment and more supple structures. TCS offers services in eight areas of service: Business process Outsourcing, Business Intelligence and performance Management, Enterprise Solutions (CRM, ERP, and SCM) IT Consulting, Application Development and Maintenance, Engineering and Industrial Services, IT Infrastructure services, Testing and quality Assurance. TCSs are divided in following divisions Financial Services, Energy and Utility, Banking, Life sciences and Health care, Insurance, Securities trading system, Retail and Consumer goods, Telecommunications, Government and Transportation. TCS follow a standard organizational growth which helps them to organize the vast team under single board of directors; the type they follow is matrix organization. The matrix organization is a combination of functional departments which provide a stable base for specialized activities and a permanent location for staff and units that integrate various activities of different functional departments on a project team, product, programme, geographical or systems basis (mullins 2007). (www.tcs.com) DISADVANTAGES ADVANTAGES More involvement can cause aggravation and uncertainty among team members. Adequate meeting makes this type more time consuming. A detailed understanding is needed in order to be a part else result in bad performance which affects the total team work. A very good ability is needed in order to perform better and draw attention. Distribution of possessions is supple among the organization. Facilitates in intricate verdicts and appropriate for recurrent transformations occurs in unbalanced atmosphere. To meet demands from customers and helps to make unity within the team. Provides an opportunity to extend both practical and product skills. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: Even though the organizational culture will look like a similar saying its really solid to describe and elucidate as the word culture is derived from anthropology. In simple it can be described as the reflection of fundamental works about the way by which the work is performed. The collection of traditions, policies, value, attitudes and beliefs that comprises an invasive framework for everything we do and believe in an organization (Mullins, 2008). The corporate cultures can be categorised by two influential factors, The degree of threat coupled with the organizations manners The pace at which organisations and their employees obtain comment on the success of verdict or strategies. If the customs are adopted by the employees, it amplifies the supremacy and rights of management in three ways. Categorizes themselves with their organization and consent to its decree when its the defined fascination to do. To integrate the organizations worth when they are right. Enthused to accomplish the organizations objectives. The types of Organizational culture are Power culture, Task culture, Person culture, Role culture. A well-built organizational culture lies on eight strong pillars of OCTAPACE referring to authenticity, confrontation, autonomy, openness trust, proactive, collaboration and explicitness. Organization cultures can be categorized into strong and weak cultures. The organizational culture of TCS is translucent in stipulations of pay and its HR policies. There is a towering level of employee engagement as the concern pay structure stimulates and supports employees to achieve better to receive an excellent sum of their recital pay. There is an incessant improvement and growth of workforce through different modus operandi like the T model. It is a proficiently managed organization with client fulfilment as its top most precedence. Workforces are given lofty sum of respect and everybody is addressed as an ASSOCIATE to make them believe that their input really matters. But there are some minorities who believe that TCS follows a cold culture, by cold they signify that persons are not concerned about others. Few think that TCS has an energetic culture and there are lots of communal performance which the concern takes on to help the underprivileged and poor. One such initiative is the TCS Maitree, it is a non-profit auxiliary of TCS which utilize the employees to approach further on and educate the under privileged children or seize a camp in a countrys rural area to educate them regarding the knowledge on computers. PS T Model is new software intended by TCS, all the workers information pertaining to his possession, competencies, skill set, etc are fed and then the software gives the three best domains where the employee would best be suited. This model when launched will help in smooth inter- departmental reloc ates. TCS values are ethical, in which TCS have its own set of rules, policies, values which is called TATA Code of Conduct which was explained by HR with immense efforts during induction process, in easy words it can be described as that TCS is not doing business from people but doing business with the people. The TCSs culture is dynamic and favourable for vigorous growth and antagonism. THE NATURE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE: Change is persistent manipulate. It is an unavoidable part of both social and organizational life and we are all subject to continual change of one form or other (Laurie j Mullins 2008) There are factors which are substantial to the organization change are: Global inflation and economic meltdown. Non-availability of resources. The limitations on products lifecycle due to frequent revises in technologies. Very high competition in escalating and capturing new market places. BUSINESS STRATEGIES: TCS names its business divisions as Industry Service Practice. TCS has it maximum revenue from Banking Financial Services and Insurance Sector. GENERIC BUSINESS STRATEGY: Low outlay of Global delivery 24X7 model. Delivery with the help of established release and excellence framework-IQMS in time. A whole focus on customer retention and client relationship in order to uphold the business revenue which is 95.6% Distinguished in low end services in both capital and price A solid protection from the money fluctuations with currency prevarication. Owing to its tough knowledge management system and resource strength, TCS has been triumphant in attaining the cost leadership in the Industry. In recent years TCS has been following a further resolute strategy where they are moving towards the requirements of customer and the nature of business as like Middle East, Europe, and Asia-pacific. TCS focus much on customers and the area rather than being broad. A full Focus on the centres of Excellence(CoE) to strengthen potential in order to build the state-of-art elucidation in particular technologies such as testing, virtualization and architecture. The high end skills and scale will help TCS to embark upon huge projects aimed at converting clients, IT applications and Infrastructures. GLOBAL STRATEGIES: When the global strategy of TCS is being closely observed, it will illustrate an influencing labour cost in South America, China and some parts of Europe. Employing overseas experts into the post of Directors in order to obtain the frequent changes in the business is also can be referred as one of the key strategies of TCS Clayton M Christensen(HSB Professor, joined TCS in 2006) Dr. Ron Sommer (former chairman of the board of management of Deuteshce telecom AG, joined TCS in 2006) Laura M cha (Member of Executive Council of the Hong Kong special Administrative Region(SAR) and Non-Executive Chairman of HSBC investment, Asia ltd) TCS have a keen view in looking US and UK for the Business Revenue markets and India for the skilled employees. TCS is very keen in establishing global delivery centres outside India which can demonstrate TCS as a Global company. TCS was the first one to set the global delivery centre in China which distinguished TCS from other corporate companies. In recent years TCS was frequently changing its approach towards global market; recently TCS reconstructed its structure towards its global operations to implement a Customer centric and integrated approach which is anticipated to assist in avoiding the risk factors arising from the Economic Meltdown in western countries. TCSs operation units are mainly divided into five main divisions. The well established markets are North America, U.K and Western Europe and the new markets are Latin America, Middle East, India and Eastern Europe. The new restructured plan was considered as the very good change by the TCS as it is attaining impetus in Europe and other markets, which is obvious in the companys marked growth rate of 40% every year. The operations In Middle East and Latin America had also seen a substantial growth. TCS had built new delivery and offshore centres in Latin America like Uruguay, Mexico and Brazil. STRATEGIC ALLIANCES: TCS is always keen in upholding the strategic relationships with various International technology vendors. These relations are distinguished in various magnitudes such as service provider, customer, supplier, and alliance partner. The relationships with the international technology vendors have made TCS to maintain a holistic. TCS made a joint venture with these vendors on joint research influencing each other strengths to research and to develop the best breed offerings. Joint advancing engagements. Significantly new or improved solutions. Joint go-to-market strategies for the solutions. ACQUISITION STRATEGY: TCS is concentrating the growth in two ways the organic means and inorganic means. The Inorganic way is in the course of acquisitions of companies which craft business sense to TCS. The concerns should adjoin great value to TCS. The Business with CMC is assisting TCS taking a very sharp gaze to the domestic Industry. Both companies have synergies in the government sector. They made various agreements with various companies some of them are the agreement with the citi group to transfer 12,000 employees in banking sectors for cash and external support in IT. Tata InfoTech Limited (TIL) was merged in early 2006. It was also a software service company like TCS which have branches around the world like America, Europe and Australia. Comparable to the financial venture made greater than, TCS yet again prolonged its banking commodities and shared its European operations after attaining a 75% equity wager in its Switzerland-based partner, TKS-Teknosoft. TKS was the marketing representative f or TCS in Europe. TCS: CO INNOVATION NETWORK (COIN): TCS is following a coin strategy in order to face the competition as the globalisation has created a elevated competition among the IT companies. It is necessary for the IT companies in order to follow an innovative technology thus resulted in the Advanced Information and Communication Technology which made practicable for companies to collaborate and perform Globally Distributed Network (GDN). Disorderly improvements are not the consequence of a solitary technology pretended by the minority of people but the combination of similar technologies may result in getting a combined innovative technology which will be much more effective and useful for the companies to perform globally. This concept of innovation network is not novel; classically it was the technology releasing body e.g. IBMs driven Innovation Networks and Googles Gartner Innovation networks are already been in existence, for TCS it is the customer driven innovation network where the participants are delivery rudiments and explorations. SWOT ANALYSIS: SWOT analysis is a prearranged loom to calculating the strategic position of a business by identifying its strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. SWOT offers an uncomplicated way of analysing the results of marketing review. Internal strengths and weakness are abridged as they communicated to external opportunities and threats. (Jobbers; 2007) It analysis the complete strategy of the company based on policies and the business method which they follow. This pictures the companies advantages and disadvantages in companies perspective. The SWOT for TCS is as follows, (S)TRENGTHS widespread universal reach Strong economic presentation Human management skills Innovative lab system The Fame of the founder (W)EAKNESSES Momentous publicity to financial service markets. Deficient in level of consulting operations. (O)PPORTUNITIES Expansion in worldwide IT services Focus on SMB segment Expanding maneuvers in countries like china Focus on high end business and consulting (T)HREATS The Hike in Employee costs Powerful competition from overseas firms like Accenture, IBM etc. Merge in the end markets Currency gratitude Increase in competition from low wage. (S)TRENGTHS: The popularity and the reach all over the global markets made TCS a reputed and known firm in the Global IT Market. The TCS had launched the branches all over the world which can be considered as the primary strength for the TCS. TCS made clear and strong economic presentations around the globe which makes its clients a financial confidence about the company. The International base of TCS, India is known for its skilled employees in IT field which naturally made TCS very strong in Human resource. TCS is also skilled in the management skills as its board of directors are from overseas countries in order to adopt the strategies from all the parts of the world. TCS have a very good infrastructures and innovative labs with all the latest technologies which help TCS employees to update the latest technologies and to make research in various fields. The fame of the founder is also an added strength for the TCS. (W)EAKNESS: The excess exposure on the financial service markets which usually need to be kept confidential is considered as the main weakness of TCS. TCS is also lack in effective consulting team which show a strong reflection of decline in the growth cycle of the TCS, Being a company which works on Outsourcing projects usually needs a very good effective consulting team which acts as the bridge between the clients and company. TCS really lacks in that. (O)PPORTUNITIES: TCS being a fast growing IT firm is very keen in establishing and expanding its business to almost all the parts of world right from India, China, Latin American countries, Asia-pacific and etc which opened up a great business opportunity for TCS. The Focus in the SMB segments is also lays a very good business opportunity for TCS. Expanding the global branches to void countries like china, Asia-pacific will extend the business opportunities of TCS in future. TCS have a very good opportunity in high end business and consulting in the future if they rectify their weakness in consulting service. (T)HREATS: The rapid growth and development in India and other global areas, A common demand for employees arise which result in the increase of cost for employees. TCS has to face a very high competition from overseas and well established companies like IBM, Accenture and etc. The complete merge in the End markets is also a biggest threat for TCS. The advantage on rupees always stands as the biggest threat to all IT companies in general. Increase of competition from low wages is another threat. The similar Indian firms like Wipro, Infosys are also at their full phase of capturing global markets. TCS has to face a cold war against the threats which the company faces. As all the competitors of TCS are equally strong and effective in which TCS cant ignore the supple one. PORTERS ANALYSIS ON TCS: Porters tool will help to analyse the main five competitive factors which affects the companys growth (www.emeraldinsight.com) Being TCS itself is an supplier, it do not have problem with the suppliers, the other four forces which are problematic to TCS are the threat of new entrants, the bargaining power of customers, the threat of substitutes and the spirited rivalry between the existence. In the untimely days the software exports, the software wholesale market was overlooked by very few massive like Accenture, EDS and IBM, where the Indian concern were outlined as small level companies in result the TCS and other Indian software companies competed themselves in the lower end of the business, which resulted TCS and other organizations to choose small projects and tasks which are simple to do. TCS also faced a customer market that was conquered by the insurance companies and huge banks. While TCS keenly hunted for alliances with larger sellers as a competitive strategy, TCS most successful approach was to honestly loom clients and admit the minor charges that its competitive pose dictated. The entry of new companies have reduced rapidly as the huge companies like TCS, Infosys and Wipro have developed and grown huge in their market share, size and reliability with their customers. Though, the companies struggle to decrease their straight rivalry through demarcation of manufactured goods, in every market there has been enormous competitors. TCS has to work seriously upon reducing the bargaining power of customers. TCS can prevent price strategy in mixing up with purchase decision. It means that TCS should bring more than undifferentiated indoctrination by moving up the cost sequence. Such approach might be difficult in the software outsourcing business as the clients have an in-depth domain enterprises and rights of inclination to hold on to the work allocated under considered consulting. The clients very well know that the complete bargaining power lies in the strategic consulting; outsourcing that may reduce their bargaining power. TCS have to build up enough knowledge so as to construct outsourcing these errands a convincing worth plan. Of course, it is exactly in this empire that the multinational outsourcing firms such as Accenture, IBM, and EDS are the most vicious customers. Falsifying groupings are often viewed as a superior approach to offset clients bargaining command. Though, constructing alliances with companies functioning in clients sites have to be low-priced as this would advance focus on TCS in application progress. On other side, the attainment of a medium-sized US firm with sturdy customer relations and domain expertises could offer a striking opportunity. Even if expenses per employee would increase, the go up would be minute since workers needs are lesser for higher value-added jobs. The main anxiety for TCS is opposition from existing companies like Wipro, Infosys and CTS as it has produced rivalry for active dealings and twisted noteworthy pricing stress. Internationally, Companies like EDS have sited themselves as competent of handling huge, turnkey ventures which can distinguish themselves from contestants such as Accenture and IBM that spotlights on superior value-added jobs such as consulting. This proposes an organically-driven expansion strategy for TCS: as TCS should persist to do the similar sort of job that it presently do, but should attempt to arrest a better section of the value-addition by accepting huge projects. Although it has exhibited a potential in distant project management, TCS would be requisite to increase the same capability. But, there are also few risks which prevail in this strategy. TCSs huge dimension implies that it might have already exploited wealth to amount in applications improvement. Adding to that, the strategy may tender the latent for huge growth since it essentially engages elevated value-added actions. Before, this was hard, partially owed to the technical complexity in rejecting the value-chain away from the modularization of appliances programming. In recent years, though, systems design, manufacturing services, and systems integration job have increasingly been outsourced suggestive of that, if the abilities are at hand, those works could be completed in India. The threat of substitutes are mainly from the China, Philippines and eastern Europe which emerge as a biggest threats to the Indian IT companies, which is mainly due to the low cost. The companies from these countries quote very low price for the same quality of products as the Indian Companies do, which creates a great impact on medium to long term projects. It is difficult for TCS being operated from India to attain the organic growth. As the globalization

Economics :: essays research papers

Island of Mocha Essay The Island of Mocha in the video is an example of a traditional economic system evolving into a market system. Every person plays a key role in this traditional system. They had fisherman, coconut collector, melon seller, lumberman, barber, doctor, preacher, brownies seller, and a chief. The Mochans got sick of trading goods all across the island just to get the things that they want or needed. The Chief decided that they would use clam shell for currency instead of trading. The first type of economic system that they movie shows is a traditional system. A traditional economy is an economic system in which the allocation of scarce resources and other economic activity is the result of ritual habit or customs. In other words a traditional economy is a barter or trade system, everybody decides WHAT WHEN and FOR WHOM. When the video first starts the Mochans had to trade all over the island to acquire what needed. After a while they had enough of trading the chief decided to switch to currency instead of trade. The economic system that they switched to is called a market economic system. A market economy is an economic system in which supply, demand, and the price system help people make decisions and allocate resources. So with a market economy you decide WHAT WHEN and FOR WHOM. In the movie Pablo the lumberman starts up a company and sells stock to allow him to be able to get all of the supplies needed. Big Daddy had triplets and need lumber to make the nursery bigger, since they switched to a market economy he had no money because the islanders would give the chief a portion of what they had. So Big Daddy had to start a tax in order to pay for the expansion of the nursery. Since all the businesses were all doing so well every business wanted to expand so the demand for lumber was great which caused a lumber shortage, the lack of resources the price when up which cause inflation all over the island. With inflation going on Big Daddy had to do something in order to stop it. The island of Mocha was going in to a recession so Big Daddy took control and put a price freeze on everything. Now the economic system turned into a command economy. A command economy is an economic system characterized by a central authority that makes most of the major economic decisions.

Politics and Religion in the Herbert’s Dune Novels Essay -- Dune

Politics and Religion in the Herbert’s Dune Novels There are a variety of political and religious concepts throughout the Dune novels that varies so much through the novels which makes it a complex and cogitative science fiction series. The Dune novels are popular with many fans and partly this is due because of its political and religious structures. This essay will be focussing primarily on the first four Dune novels written by Frank Herbert. In the first novel, the Qizarate is composed of missionaries and is a religious body that carries Muad'dib's religion across the universe (Herbert Dune Messiah 8). Muad'dib is a character in three of the Dune novels and originally was named Paul Atreides who was heir to the Atreides throne of power. After living on a planet called Arrakis also known as Dune, the Fremen renamed him Muad'dib after they accepted him into their society. The Fremen are native people that had lived on Arrakis for a long time but were never political or religious leaders of the planet as they were mostly detached from off world influence. The Qizarate maintains control of the planets it occupies with Muad'dib's religion. The population of the universe see Muad'dib as their god whether they like it or not and they can not deny his power religiously. Korba, the person in charge of the Qizarate in Dune Messiah, works with Muad'dib about Muad'dib's religion and is a panegyrist who delivers eulogies and pr aise for his god (Herbert Dune Messiah 8, 57). Korba seems to be fanatically involved with this religion. Korba goes far enough to attempt to create a martyr of Muad'dib, all for the sake of his religion (Herbert Dune Messiah 9). The Bene Gesserit wanted to control the religion of the univers... ...l structure struggles with internal and external forces. The Dune series is popular because it requires the reader to think, and there is more to that than just a story. Works Cited Herbert, Frank. Children of Dune. New York : Ace Books, 1987. Herbert, Frank. Dune Messiah. New York : Berkley, 1969. Herbert, Frank. God Emperor of Dune. New York : Putnam, 1981. McLean, Susan. "A Question of Balance: Death and Immortality in Frank Herbert's Dune Series". Death and the Serpent: Immortality in Science Fiction and Fantasy. (1985): 145-152. O'Reilly, Timothy. Frank Herbert. Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc. 1981. Palumbo, Donald. "The monomyth as fractal pattern in Frank Herbert's Dune novels". Science Fiction Studies 25.3 (Nov. 1998): 433-58. Touponce, William F. Frank Herbert. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988.

The End to Slavery in the Caribbean Essay -- Slavery Slave Racial Essa

The End to Slavery in the Caribbean The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) was the first successful slave revolt in the Caribbean, and it was one of the most important events in the history of the Americas. Along with the obvious human rights benefits that the Haitian Revolution achieved, there were some serious setbacks for the nation as well. Between 1783 and 1789, Saint Domingue was the foremost sugar producer in the region, but by the end of the war the economy was completely destroyed, and to this day Haiti has not come anywhere close to reattaining its once prominent economic status in the Caribbean. The results of the revolution sent fear through the European consciousness as well as strengthened the growing idea that slavery may be an immoral practice. In the United Kingdom, slavery lost popularity quickly and an antislavery movement was initiated. After May 1807, no British ship was permitted to leave with a cargo of slaves, and by March 1808, it was made illegal for a slave to be landed in any British colony. The law became even stricter in 1811 when the trafficking of slaves was made into a felony. Despite the attempts to end the slave trade, plantation slavery continued in the British Caribbean. Slavery was not officially abolished in the Caribbean until 1834. The termination bill which abolished it called for twelve years of apprenticeship for the â€Å"ex-slaves†, which was not very different from slavery. This system was abolished in 1838. During and after all of this vacillating lawmaking, a serious labor problem developed in the Caribbean. The key to the production of the Caribbean’s produce, mainly sugar, was the system of slavery. Slavery practically eliminated labor costs, and all... ...s felt as though they were being undercut by this new type of cheap labor. The blacks resented that their slavery had come to an end, but in order to compete with the new labor force, slave-like conditions were once again the only option. The "coolies† in Jamaica, as well as the Asians on the other islands began their journeys as outsiders living in terrible conditions. Today, a sort of blend has taken place in these cultures. A good example of the blending that has taken place can be seen in the music of the region. In rural Trinidad there is a popular form of music that mixes classical Indian singing with a soca beat. Soca is a music that combines the insistent tempos of calypso with the energy of hip hop and the quatrain-like structures of traditional north Indian folk songs. Tinker, Hugh. A New System of Slavery. Oxford University Press, 1974.

Formative Strictly Ballroom

Texts represent certain perspectives on belonging which challenge us to understand our own world. This is evident in the film â€Å"Strictly Ballroom† directed by Baz Luhrmann. The style of the film is â€Å"Red Curtain† cinema which means conveys the ballroom dancing world is surreal and artificial. This film explores what it means to belong or not belong to a well-defined group. This is presented through the opening sequence by showing how Scott, Fran and Doug don’t belong to the group of ballroom dancers. The director grew up in the world of ballroom competitions.Luhrmann’s purpose was to be able to tell a story in his own particular way, â€Å"telling our own stories in our own way that is what the film is about for me†. The opening scenes explore aspects of not belonging and no being accepted. The ballroom dancing group demonstrates a veneer of belonging. The group itself is the same in appearance and behaviour but lacks emotional connection wi th other. They value tradition and authority. To belong to this world means sacrificing individual identity. A high angle shot is used to show the dancers competing in the competition, it also show the walls of the room they are dancing in.This represents their confinement to the outside world as well as their conformity because they are all dancing the same steps. We understand that when people conform to a group they become restricted and separated from the rest of the world. The close ups of Barry Fife and the judges sitting above the dancers shows that they have more power. This symbolises that they have authority within the ballroom dancing group and are the people that enforce the tradition of strict rules and regulations.From this we understand that when there is authority and power in a group there are rules to be followed that stop people from having an individual identity. The make-up of the women defines them as belonging to a certain group and symbolises their values, fo r example the women of the ballroom dancing wear bright and over the top coloured make-up. This represents them as being ‘fake’ due to being part of an artificial world. The idea of them all having exaggerated make-up tells us they all belong to the one group. From this we understand that to belong to certain groups you have must conform to their ways.The idea of not belonging is also conveyed in the opening sequence. This is represented through peoples’ individual choices and the exclusion of those who do not fit in. Scott Hastings is the protagonist in the film and as an individual he chooses not to belong. He chooses to dance his own steps, meaning he doesn’t conform and therefore does not belong. Scott shows rebellion in the first scenes where he challenges the authority by breaking the rules. He does this because he is looking for his own identity away from the group. The close up of Scott’s shoes when he dances show he is about to dance his ow n way.This demonstrates his desire for freedom and individual identity as well as his rebellion against a restrictive type of belonging. This gives us the understanding that when people wish to find their own identity they rebel and makes choices which can lead to exclusion. Scott’s costume is black pants and a white singlet which is what he wears when he dances his own steps. This indicates his difference to the group and the authenticity of his motivation as he attempts to create his own identity. Lighting affects the mood in the film and Scott is often shown in close ups with low key lighting which is more natural.In the scene where he dances in and out of the spotlight indicates his developing sense of independence from the group. Fran and Doug are two other characters who also do not belong to the ballroom dancing group. Fran is excluded because of her different attitudes to the others. Her costume is plain and simple. She wears a long T-shirt and black tights, large gla sses and no make-up. This is contrasted to the other women who wear a lot of bright make-up making them look false whereas Fran appears more natural and this makes her isolated from the group. Doug first appears as a dull man on the outside of the group.However, in these scenes we find out he also dances his own steps in the secrecy of the studio. He dances in the shadow and a single spotlight and quirky music which gives mystery and difference to his dancing. We are positioned to understand that not belonging can be caused by having different attitudes and values or it can be cause voluntary by not conforming to the rules. From the film’s opening sequence we learn that sometimes to belong to a group you have to lose your individual identity. If you rebel against conformity to a group it can result in isolation. You can also be excluded from a group due to different attitudes and values.