Youth Groups As A Discourse Community Essay Example For Students

Youth Groups As A Discourse Community Essay Youth Groups as a discourse community The only people who go to youth groups are the perfect kids who never do anything wrong, go to church every week, talk about God and about what is going on in their lives. This was my speculation before attending Pinion Hills Community Church in Farmington, New Mexico. Many people believe this to be a stereotype but my guess is that it is anything but the truth. Pinion Hills is a non-denominational church with a youth group that takes place on Saturdays at five thirty in the afternoon and then again on Sundays at nine thirty in the morning. I chose to attend the Saturday youth group with my roommate who has attended the youth group for a little over a year now. Christianity began over 2000 years ago with Jesus Christ and his disciples. We will write a custom essay on Youth Groups As A Discourse Community specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Jesus would travel around the village’s preaching religion and teaching people the will of God. Jesus would eventually die for the sins of man but three days later he would be resurrected and give hope to the world. Jesus became known as the Messiah for the Christian religion as well as the teacher of God. People today continue to tell his stories and worship him still to this day. There are various ways that people come together to worship and praise God. One way would be the getting together of youth groups since it allows the youth to learn about God in a more modern and fun way. METHODS There are many different ways that I went about collecting my information and data on youth groups. Interviews†¦

An Exploratory study of corrupt practices within the procurement process of the Indian Construction Industry The WritePass Journal

An Exploratory study of corrupt practices within the procurement process of the Indian Construction Industry Introduction An Exploratory study of corrupt practices within the procurement process of the Indian Construction Industry IntroductionDeveloping Economies:Developing economy in Indian construction:India’s construction industries:Construction Culture:Construction culture in U.K and India:Construction Procurement:Corruption in Indian construction:Corruption in U.K construction:Action Taken On corruptionType of UK corruption in the provision and management of financing for the project:Summary Relation between client and contractors:Comparison between two countries in Procurement process:Procurement problem in Sub contractors and Labours:Procurement problems in Material Issues to client:Material Procurement process:Sub contractor and labour:ConclusionReferenceBibliographyRelated Introduction Risk management is recognized as an integral part of good management practices. To be most effective and sensitive risk management should become part of an organizations culture. It should be integrated into the organizations philosophy, practices and business plans rather than be viewed or practiced as separate functions. As it is achieved, in organization risk management becomes the business for everyone .This research gives an idea of the procurement risk within Indian construction industry; this will also demonstrate the culture of construction industry, economic development of country due to construction, by this it also shows bad practice in construction and Action taken on it, Procurement in construction industry (CIDB document, 2004) Procurement  is the acquisition of appropriate goods and services at the best possible  total cost of ownership  to meet the needs of the purchaser in terms of quality and quantity, time, investment and location. in the construction projects are carried out with internal resources, i.e where no work is outsourced, only the organisation requiring the project, for practical purposes, it is at risk. However, where construction projects are implemented by contractor, a number of parties can be at risk. (Best practice guide, 2004). The developing countries should develop and apply appropriate procurement systems which suit their culture and business management traditions. Research should be undertaken on a set of criteria for contractor selection including price, which is suitable for the context of each developing country. Given the nature of the culture of most developing countries, where trust and goodwill are valued, partnering appears to have scope in these countries, as business relationships in the construction industries are, as yet, less adversarial than in the industrialised countries. Developing Economies: Corporate development is a key issue in developing countries, and the availability of suitable work opportunities is important. Local construction firms should be enabled to participate in as wide a range of the projects undertaken in their home markets as possible. Innovative schemes will be necessary, and involving the potential beneficiaries in the design of the programmes would help for country economy. Developing countries adopt different approaches hereare few of them have agencies dedicated to this task such as the National Construction Council of Tanzania (formed in 1982); Building and Construction Authority, Singapore (set up in 1984); Construction Industry Development Board, Malaysia (established in 1994) and Construction Industry Development Board, South Africa (set up in 2002). Some of these organisations have made progress but t, as yet, small number shows that developing countries are not convinced that they are beneficial. (Gorge Ofori no date) Developing economy in Indian construction: India is currently the second fastest-growing economy in the World. The Indian construction industry has been playing a vital role in overall economic development of the country, growing at over 20% Compound Annual Growth Rate over the past 5 years and contributing 8% to GDP (By  NewsDesk 2010). some new technologies entering the market everyday in Indian constructions and in keeping with international trends, construction design has become a basic part and parcel of the design concept and identity of a building, whether commercial, residential or industrial constructions. It is critical to keep with the latest trends and technologies for the basic safety and security of a building. (By  NewsDesk 2010) India is one of the most developing construction economies and  is the  eleventh largest  economy in the world by nominal and the  fourth largest  by  purchasing power parity  (PPP) (Ist Agencies, 2010).  Following strong economic reforms from the socialist inspired  economy  of a post-independence Indian nation, the country began to develop a fast-paced  economic growth, as  free market  principles were initiated in 1990 for international competition and foreign investment. Hhigher productivity leads to improved economic outcomes (for example, higher income, more choices to the consumers, better quality products, etc.), Lall (2001) says that the appropriate strategy for any country depends not only on its objective economic situation but also on its government policies and national views regarding the appropriate role of the state. (Economic development in India) India’s construction industries: India is the fourth largest economy, with a GDP of US$1,242.8 billion in 2008 between 2000 and 2008 in construction, Indias GDP growth rate doubled from 5.7% in 2000 to 9.3% in 2007. The construction industrial sector has predominately fuelled this growth. During 2000-07, contributions by the industrial sector to Indias total value-added increased from 26.2% in 2000 to 29.4% in 2007. According to IHS Global Insight, Indias GDP is expected to continue along a robust growth path, albeit slower than growth witnessed in recent years. Between 2008 and 2012, Indias real GDP growth will range between 6.5% and 8.2%. During the same period, Indias nominal GDP growth will range from 9.3% in 2008 to 13.5% in 2012, with a negative growth rate of 1.7% in 2009.(his Global,2009) Construction Culture: The word ‘culture’ has many meanings, which have changed over the past two generations (Barthorpe,s, 1999). Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952), American anthropologists, presented 160 different definitions of culture. Bodley (1994) culled a simple version that stated that culture involves what people think, what they do, and what they produce. Culture has several properties: it is social heritage or tradition; it is shared, learned human behaviour; and it is symbolic and based on shared, assigned meanings of the members of a group. (Putti and Chia 1990) considered culture as a set of values, beliefs, norms, attitudes and habits of people, pointing out that a society’s beliefs and values have an impact on the way business is conducted in that society. Hildebrandt et al. (1991) suggested that the implementation of an organization’s culture is influenced by: nature of environment, type of company, and special character of company and employees. Construction culture in U.K and India: It can be said that, Indian construction culture is different from the British in by certain ways like attitudes towards quality, price, consistency, branding, and other costs of stress and time. This will ultimately have an effect on consumption behaviour and, therefore, it is vital to understand ‘‘value orientations’’ which will help us to better understand the psyche of people. Issues relating to community support in its various guises (Bonacich, 1973, 1987; Aldrich et al., 1989; Waldinger, 1989) as well as issues relating to the historical perspective of Asian-owned firms operating a ‘‘harmonious, family-orientated practice’’ (Werbner, 1984) will all affect consumption behaviour too. From a managerial viewpoint, the priority of collaborators in cultures where ‘‘time is money’’ will be to optimise time, which is seen as a scarce economic resource in western cultures, a lot of time is actually spent waiting, whereas for the Indian cultures, there is often neither expectation nor despair; people do not get impatient because they are not nervously dependent on an uncertain future time. They do not ‘‘wait’’ because, unconsciously or not, they are not eliminating the present. Indians look at time as something to experience, logical to suppose that saving time would be less important to Indians than as compare to other countries. Construction Procurement: The project procurement and administrative arrangements currently in use in developing countries have been inherited from Western countries which have different history, culture, collective experience and breadth of construction expertise. These arrangements determine the documentation, procedures and practices in the industry, and specify the roles of the participants and the relationships amongst them. Traditional design and construction services can foster adversarial relationships between the clients, designers, and contractors, can restrict innovation, resulting high cost and time extended. Traditional systems may therefore not necessarily provide the best value to all project types, as deteriorating infrastructure and increasing population and have created tremendous pressures to move critical projects quickly through the planning stage and into design and construction, without a commensurate increase in available funding. External pressures are the basic requirement to include quality concepts in all phases of the highway program. Thus, there is a continuing need for the Department to review and evaluate procurement and contracting procedures that promote improved efficiency and quality of construction. Procurement procedures are used to evaluate and select designers, contractors, and various consultants. Evaluation and selection can be based solely on price, solely on technical qualifications, or on a combination of price, technical qualifications, time, and other factors. (Innovative procurement practices). Bad practice of construction (Corruption/ Transparency) Corruption on construction projects is a complicated problem. It may occur in the form of bribery, extortion, fraud or collusion. It can take place during any phase of a project, including project identification, planning, financing, design, tender, execution, operation and maintenance. In each project phase, corruption may involve any one or more of the government, project owner, funders, consultants, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, joint venture partners, and agents. Furthermore, corruption is concealed and those aware of it are either complicit in it or reluctant to report it. This makes it more difficult to detect (Giacc, 2008) Corruption in Indian construction: In India found that more than 50% of the people had firsthand experience of paying bribe or peddling influence to get a job done in a public office. Transparency International estimates that in another industry it was found that their annually pay was US$5 billion in bribes.  For 2010, India was ranked 87th  of 178th  countries in Transparency Internationals  Corruption Perceptions Index, which was a huge setback from the preceding year (Jo Johnson, May, 2007) Type of corruptions within Indian construction: Political, Bureaucracy, Land and Property Tendering Process and awarding contracts Transport Income Tax Even police, judiciary and Religious Institution  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Preferential award of public resources For purpose of this study, this discussion will focus upon more pertinent issues in Indian construction industry are: Land and property: Officials often steal state property. In  Bihar, more than 80% of the subsidized food aid to poor is stolen. In cities and villages throughout India,  Mafia Raj  consisting of municipal and other government officials, elected politicians, judicial officers, real estate developers and law enforcement officials, acquire, develop and sell land in illegal ways. (Economic development, 2008) In India, since in most of the land settlement has not been undertaken since the departure of the British. Land records are in a pathetic state, and so are very easy to manipulate. In major cities like Delhi and Mumbai it is believed that typically 60% of the payment for high-end properties is made in cash under the table. (Corruption trips India’s rise, 2010) Tendering process and awarding contracts:   Government officials having discretionary powers in awarding contracts engage in preferential treatment for selected bidders, display negligence in quality control process. Many state-funded construction activities in India, such as road building, are dominated by construction mafias, which are groupings of corrupt public works officials, materials suppliers, politicians and construction contractors.  Shoddy construction and material substitution (e.g. mixing sand in  cement  while submitting expenses for cement) result in roads and highways being dangerous, and sometimes simply washed away when Indias heavy  monsoon  season arrives (The Wall Street Journal, 2008)    Corruption in U.K construction: Corruption within the UK construction industry is an issue that is the subject of perception and rumour rather than of facts. Apart from periodic instances of exposure and action, it is a subject discussed as conjecture rather than knowledge. This survey has attempted to look at the issue from the point of view of those who work within the industry in order to gain a better perspective on the issues they face. (Ciob Survey,2006) It would seem from the results that while corruption is present to some degree in many areas of the construction industry, there is some disagreement of where networking and the development of harmonious working relationships stop, and corruption starts. It is clear that those who responded are aware of the issues, but there are clear indications of degrees of tolerance to some practices that some would regard as corrupt. The results also showed that the vast majority of respondents feel strongly that more should be done to address this issue. CORRUPTION IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY: THE PROBLEM. â€Å"The impact of corruption goes far beyond the specific misbehaviour of the actors involved. It is repercussion sweep across the entire population. A one million euro bribe can rapidly amount to one hundred million euro loss in a poor country – through de-railed development plans and incoherent investment decisions. Unfinished roads, crumbling schools and crippled health systems are but a few serious examples which illustrate the impact of this phenomenon† (James Lewis, 2008) FORMS OF CORRUPTION Corruption in construction industry can take place in many forms, the common ones being bribery, exhortation, fraud and collusion as well as other persons, who were complicit in the offence, may be guilty of bribery. A bribe may be a cash payment, or it may be a non-cash advantage (such as the promise of a future contract, or a holiday). It can be institutional or personal. Institutional bribery refers to a situation where a bribe may be paid or received with the full approval of the organisation which is the employer of the individual paying or receiving the bribe. This may occur, for example, where a contracting company authorises its commercial director to pay a bribe to win a tender This may occur, for example, where a government officer receives a bribe to award a contract, where the government department in question would not approve the bribe. A contractor may pay a bribe to the project owner’s representative to have defective or non-existent work approved. (James Lewis, 2008) If the parties are in dispute in relation to the construction of the project, one party may bribe a witness, expert, arbitrator or judge in order to give false evidence, or to give a favourable opinion or verdict. Fraud usually involves one person (or group of persons) deceiving another person in order to gain some financial or other advantage. In the context of a construction project, fraud offences may include: concealment of defects dishonestly levying liquidated damages dishonestly withholding payment dishonestly exaggerating the quantum of a claim fabricating or falsifying evidence to support claims (James Lewis, 2008) Parties may be liable for the offence of fraud, For example, a contractor may be liable for fraud if it submits a claim for additional payment which it suspects is inflated but fails to take reasonable steps to determine that the claim is accurate. A bribe paid to win a project will normally be concealed by some fraudulent act with the aim that the project appears from the outside to have been won on a genuine arms-length basis. (James Lewis, 2008) However, many acts of fraud may need an act of bribery in order to complete the fraud. For example, a contractor may submit a false claim to a project owner (which is fraud) and May then bribe the certifier to approve the claim (which is bribery). Extortion is a form of blackmail where one party makes threats against another party of adverse consequences unless demands, usually for payment, are met by the other party. Such blackmail may constitute, for example, refusal to provide customs clearance for equipment or materials, or refusal to make payments or issue certificates that are due. Sometimes such threats may involve threats of physical harm. Collusion occurs where two or more parties co-operate to defraud or deceive another party. This is a type of fraud and is often described as a â€Å"cartel†, â€Å"anti-trust† or â€Å"anti-competitive† offence. This form of collusion is often referred to as â€Å"bid rigging In some cases, the corrupt practice may be a voluntary act undertaken by the relevant party with the deliberate intention of gaining a competitive advantage or obtaining additional unjustified compensation. (James Lewis, 2008) However, in other cases, the practice may be undertaken so as to â€Å"level the playing field†. For example, a contractor may feel compelled to offer a bribe during tendering if it believes that its competitors will be offering a bribe. A contractor may feel that it is necessary to inflate a claim artificially if it believes that the project owner will automatically and unjustifiably reduce the contractor’s claim or raise artificial counter-claims against the contractor. (James Lewis, 2008) In some circumstances, a bribe may be extorted from the payer. For example, a contractor may be informed that if it does not pay a bribe, it will not receive a payment to which it is entitled. Corruption in the public sector usually involves bribery or fraud being perpetrated against a government body Contract prices fraudulently inflated. Where a contract is corruptly awarded, it is often the case that the contract price is significantly inflated, not just to cover the cost of the bribe, but also to maximise profit for the contractor. Where the contractor is assured of success in winning the contract, it will have considerable freedom to demand a high contract price. Contracts awarded and claims approved in the hope of future or indirect gain. In developed countries, the corrupt awarding of contracts and corrupt approval of fraudulent claims may take a more insidious form. Large bribes may not necessarily change hands directly. (James Lewis, 2008) In simple terms, corruption in the public sector is stealing from the taxpayer. Money is stolen which could be spent on hospitals, schools, roads, and other vitally important infrastructure. This loss will be felt most severely in poorer countries. It will nevertheless also be felt in developed countries where large sums may be lost through more subtle forms of corruption. It may result in an increase in the financing, capital, operating and maintenance costs of projects. This in turn may result in increased property or utility prices, or increased charges that are required for use of certain facilities such as toll roads or bridges. It may also result in dangerously defective works. It is unlikely that there will be significant corruption in the private sector without such corruption spreading to the public sector. The risks of corruption in public contracting can be more easily understood in relation to each stage of a contracting process what to buy/sell/do and description of goods and services. These are the technical requirements. Contract award ending with a decision to select the winning bidder; and Contract implementation and supervision, It is generally believed that the risk of corruption is especially high during the evaluation phase of a contracting process, Underperformance, contract renegotiation; change orders, over-billing, and non compliance are just some of the forms of abuse.    Action Taken On corruption From this research is a lack of clear definition of corruption and corrupt practices, the results is apparent that the respondents felt that corruption certainly did exist in the UK and India but to what extent was not clear still. The client should knock them down. The client is knocking down the hours as they are aware that exaggeration is common therefore the situation becomes self-fulfilling and self-perpetuating. A similar situation appears to be occurring with inflated invoicing or claims for extra costs. On the flip side of this, clients may be finding spurious reasons to withhold payment from the contractor. Type of UK corruption in the provision and management of financing for the project: Bribes paid or fraud perpetrated by the funder’s representative for the benefit of the funder; Bribes paid or fraud perpetrated by the funder’s representative for his own personal benefit; Bribes paid or fraud perpetrated by the project owner’s representative for the benefit of the project owner; Bribes paid or fraud perpetrated by the project owner’s representative for his own personal benefit; Bribes extorted or fraud perpetrated by a government official for the benefit of the official.( TI-ACF.REPORT, 2006) Anti-corruption actions should deal with all types of construction corruption referred to in paragraph above, both by implementing appropriate anti-corruption systems within the funders organisation, and by that suitable anti-corruption controls are imposed at project level. Anti-corruption actions may be modified according to the extent of the commercial risk and the type of financing being provided by the funder. The provision of aid, or a material amount of equity or lending will inevitably give a funder greater control over the implementation of project anti-corruption mechanisms than, for example, the provision of insurance. low risk contracts or projects would require a lower level of preventive action than large or high risk contracts or projects. However, it should be remembered that while commercial risk may be reduced according to the size of the contract or project, the criminal risk will remain the same. PROCRUTMENT PROCESS India is rapidly ramping up its capital spending, the efficiency of which will be determined by the Government able to manage infrastructure spending effectively. Unfortunately civil works, worldwide have the tendency to create strong differences in opinion between even the best intentioned parties, which can quickly degenerate into acrimonious disputes and become difficult to resolve. The ability, therefore, to resolve contract disputes quickly and effectively is the difference between a project that is completed on time and a failed capital investment that is completed only after many years of delay. The DRB process is recognized globally as a best practice for dispute resolution as a cost-effective mechanism to help the parties head off problems before they escalate into major disputes resulting in arbitration or litigation22. Since 1994 DRBs have been required on all World Bank23-funded civil contracts above US$50 million and in 2004 the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) 24 jointly agreed to the publishing of harmonized procurement documents that included the requirement for DRBs. DRB recommendations often have little effect, since the vast majority is rejected. 79% of DRB recommendations are rejected – 44% are rejected by the Employer and 35% by the Contractor. (IRCI, 2008) The rejection of DRB recommendations has serious negative consequences for the efficiency of public spending. There is a clear difference in the time it takes to complete a project in cases where DRB recommendations are rejected, as compared to those where recommendations are accepted. Contract dispute resolution processes that happen after the rejection of a DRB recommendation are very lengthy and costly. Finally a high-level meeting with GOI is proposed to summarize the findings of the workshops and to provide recommendations for improving the effectiveness of DRBs in India. GDLN/NICNET could then be utilized to provide training for potential employers, contractors and DRB members to share the principles of DRBs; the contractual and legal implications; and how the members of DRBs are appointed with a concentration on the â€Å"how† of making DRBs work with actual examples of problems and obstacles that have to be overcome. (IRCI, 2008) The objective of these case studies is to identify other countries that have experienced rapid road development and to examine how they strengthened the capacity of their road construction industry to meet the demand of their roads program. The purpose of these case studies is to identify what measures were taken by other governments and industry, to improve the construction industry capacity. Since the 1990s China has enjoyed a rapid increase in the rate of road construction and has become one of the fastest countries to build its road network27. At the core has been the National Trunk Highway System (NTHS), designed to connect all the major cities and provincial capitals with populations greater than 500,000 through the construction of twelve major highways. This has now been expanded by the â€Å"7- 9-18 Highway Network† which is intended to link all cities with populations above 200,000 to those connected by the NTHS. According to the UN Economics and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific28, road construction investment in China has been steadily increasing from US$25 billion in 2001 to US$68 billion in 2005 (.(IRCI, 2008) Malaysia decided in 1977 to build a toll expressway from north to south of the peninsular to link all the main towns. To facilitate this construction the Malaysia Highway Authority was established in October 198029 with the objectives to (a) provide a fast, safe and efficient means of road transport for the entire country; (b) link all existing major townships and potential areas of development; (c) enable an effective interurban public road transportation to be provided throughout the country and (d) train personnel and further develop expertise on all facets of road construction, operation and maintenance. Most of the highways are toll operated. The highway program in Korea is governed by the National Transport Network Plan (NTNP), which has guided road development over the last 40 years from 313 km of major highways in 1960 to 2,778 km in 2003 (an almost 800% expansion) and from 27,169 km of general roads in 1960 to 94,473 km in 2003 (250% increase)31. According to the NTNP betwee n 2000 and 2019, 3,753 km of additional highways are to be built, increasing the length of highways by three times the length that existed in 1997, together with increasing fourlane highways from the 24% in 1997 to 50% in 201032. Korea has also developed a way for private investors to profit from 2,844 km of its toll roads by the development of the Korean Road Infrastructure Fund, which is traded on the Korean Stock Exchange (IRCI, 2008) China has seen remarkably fast changes in its transition from a command economy to a competitive market economy and in the strengthening of its construction industry. Only in 1983 did China classify the construction companies as a service industry. China has reformed its procurement process and now more than 90% of urban and industrial projects are awarded based on competitive or selective bidding (IRCI, 2008) Malaysia provides an example of a country developing its road program through the construction of toll roads. It learned lessons, which included the reality of restrictive public funds limiting its ability to expand the road network and leading to cancellation of projects. This prompted the opening up to the private industry with BOT arrangements (IRCI, 2008) Korea provides a good example of rapid expansion using the private industry and public/private partnerships (PPP). Most of the road network consists of PFI projects, which has demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of BOT-type development. To understand the structure of the road construction industry it is useful to review the dramatic institutional changes that have occurred in China over the last 30 years. (IRCI, 2008) Prior to 1976 during the leadership of Mao Zedong business enterprises and communes, including construction organizations, were all directly controlled by central or provincial government. In many rural areas the agricultural communes actually replaced local government and provided the basic services, such as health care, education, welfare for the elderly and granted permission to couples to have their one child. This was the time of the â€Å"iron rice bowl†, when enterprise workers were guaranteed life-long employment and security despite enterprise redu ndant overstaffing and lack of finances to provide adequate services (IRCI, 2008). As a simple activity to assemble material for Construction was viewed; plant and other items made by the other sectors of the economy to create building or civil engineering works and were considered to have no significant added value to the total social product. Most of the central ministries formed their own construction companies to implement their own specific capital projects. Summary This report gives information about process and types of construction in Indian and in UK, and also construction plays main role for economic development in both countries, and it has some negative parts such as Corruption/ Transparency in both countries, and also this report is prepared by Transparency International (UK) and the Indian construction on commission for the UK and Indian Government Department for International Development (DFID). It has been endorsed by the UK Anti- Corruption Forum which is an alliance between UK business associations, professional institutions and organisations with interests in the domestic and international infrastructure, construction and engineering sectors. Research Methodology Primary data collection will be through semi structured telephone interviews of selected sample Exploratory research of Qualitative Data Procurement play very important role in Construction Industry whether it is small scale or big scale construction industry. In this chapter will discuss the rationale behind the choice of the data collection that was used in this research. As previously stated the main aim of the dissertation is to discover corrupt practices within the procurement process in the Indian Construction Industry. The research plans to comparison between the India and U.K construction industry and investigate any associated corruption within them. As we have found less information on this topic, we need to talk with some of the experience people of this field. In this telephones interview we have to discover as much as possible information about the topic. The sequence of the questioning is in order to built up the rapport with in the respondent and the explore As interviews are taken of the Engineers, Client and Contractors, and in that the result we got is India and UK construction process is very much similar and the business culture of different from the Indian in some ways such as high technology used in construction in UK, Employees and main is Currency due to that all the process changes, as the Currency of UK pound is high as compare to the INDIAN Rupees, It make lot of difference by standard of living, thinking and mostly on construction project by using Advance Machineries on site. As we all know the India is one of the developing countries and UK is developed, it make lot of change in everything, and the technique of construction used in the Indian construction is the followed from UK, as an example ISO code is used for construction all the safety and construction work is the same. Just different is in labours in India most of the construction project is completed by using Labours and less machinery, and in UK all the construction work is done by machineries, for an example in India till today in small project concrete is mixed by labour on site with site mixture. These days in India in big scale construction industry we found all the heavy machineries and less labour are used; all the process is the same like UK. The question which was asked to all of them was related to construction industry and all were in general. First question I asked them all was How do you think Indian and UK construction process compare? Most of them said they don’t know much about UK construction process but they just know few main key points as are: Both the countries follows the same construction process We follow the British rules of construction like ISO code and many more Mainly in the UK construction work done by high technique and accurate machineries and in the India small or big scale industry mainly work done by labours. As the labours are cheap and easy to get that’s why most of the Indian construction labour oriented work is done. Relation between client and contractors: As the both countries follows the same construction method. In both countries the relationship between the client and contractor is the same while the construction is in process, they have to maintain their relationship in good, as the interviewers said in some of the firm relation between the client don’t take place client hire the third party (consultancy) to look after the construction work as the client don’t have construction profession/ knowledge, consultancy look for the clients expectations and requirements and complete the requirement from the contractor. As the client hire the consultancy the time take for any decision is much longer than direct conversation, client goes with safe and quality work. Comparison between two countries in Procurement process: As the interviewer said they don’t have idea about UK construction process but they said they can tell about the Indian construction procurement process. As the both countries have lot of different in using materials for construction as the climate is not the same. In the Indian construction contractor mostly stock the material in bulk quantity, as they have space to store the material In the UK construction the material can easily available when they required. In the India material is stock due to unavailability of material in certain season. For example contractor stock river sand (fine aggregate) before rainy season starts, the chances of availability river sand is less and the material cost is very high in rainy season so they stock the some material before price goes high. Material like River sand, Bricks cement and course aggregate. As from new and some online documentary can be say that both countries have similar procurement process not all the some ways. In the Indian construction more space is available for storage of material on site as in UK doesn’t have space for storage as compare to Indian construction site. What are the Procurement problems caused by the client are you aware of? As this question are only about the Indian construction, the interviewers some main points: Client has issues with good quality materials should be used on the construction site. Client also has problems in material used as per design the material is used more or less. Re estimating the project due to fluctuation of the materials rate in market. Client mainly have problem with contractor as the client look for his profit and use material which is not tested or not quality material Contractor makes profit and using fewer materials. Procurement problem in Sub contractors and Labours: Sub contractor and labours are the part of procurement process. Problem for clients are: Labours which are used for work on site are not skilled Client won’t interfere in the work but he found any mistake done by the worker he interfere that time, In big scale construction industry client don’t interfere with sub contractor, as they have appointed the consultant party for the work, Procurement problems in Material Issues to client: Client have issues in material by not using proper/ quality material while construction, Client have problem with not proper planning of the material availability Less use of the material like cement in concrete while construction Material which has taken on site should be checked and tested properly and should be recorded on the record book. Contractor can accept the low quality material for their own profit In your opinion does corruption occurs in the construction industry? Most of the interviewer said Yes corruption does take place in construction industry, but not as previous days, the percentage of corruption in the Indian construction industry is very less or negligible, that also in small scale construction industries. In big scale industry they keep all the records of materials, like by Quality or Quantity all materials are mention and recorded on the material recorded book. These days on every construction industry you will get record book of material which are used and how much is left, so there’s no chance to get corruption. Corruption in Tendering Process Some of the interviewer said NO corruption don’t appear in tendering process, these days before submitting the tender all the contractor has to submitte their previous record and all the work record, the client check all the details of the contractor and then he goes for the better work experience or the good work records. Few interviewers said Yes corruption does happen in tendering process, as the tendering is the main step of the construction, corruption in tendering means are managing tender between the client and contractor, these can be seen in private construction sector, but these days mostly tendering are submitted online which can bidding so that everyone can see the tendering process and who got the tender. Corruption happen in tendering is by contractor changing the material rates as the rates are fluctuated rise by 6% to 7%, so contractor can demand for revaluation for rates as per market in this way corruption happens in tendering process. Material Procurement process: In construction industry no chance of corruption as all the material have the records and check list with the certificates so no chance of corruption, as all the time client engineer is with contractor’s engineer to check all the material and its quantity and quality. Corruption occurs when accepting bad quality material on site. Sub contractor and labour: As the sub contractor and labour don’t have many issues in the process, as the working rates are fixed for them, problem is sub contractor use the unskilled labour and takes payment of skilled labour from the contractor. As the sub contractor has given the work on measurement. As the interviewer saying they don’t find much problem of corruption in subcontractor and labours. Conclusion Construction process of UK and the India is same as both countries follow the same construction process. Just have difference in procurement process in both the countries. Corruption in the Indian construction industry is reduced as using new technology in construction, and some where the corruption happen but that also negligible. India’s big scale industry and UK construction is the same. In the India, labours are easily available and cheap to hire them for work as compare to UK. Client and contractor relationship don’t have much difference, certain things are better in UK construction like speed work, quality work, new technologies are used. Indian construction industry is poised to grow exponentially because of massive infrastructure building programs. This has created excellent opportunities for the construction industry in terms of business opportunity. The Indian economic environment and system and procedures would further boost the construction industry which would provide the basic physical infrastructure for the nation as well as other industries. (CIDC, †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦) Recommendation of Further Research â€Å"The construction industry is dynamic in nature. The concept of project success has remained ambiguously defined in the construction industry. Project success is almost the ultimate goal for every project†. (Albert P.C. Chan, Ada P.L. Chan, (2004)). The research of UK and Indian construction industry information was not much information to collect; further research should be more about Technology, use of machineries and their procurement process, more information of UK construction and its bad practise within it. Detail    Reference Keith Parry. (12 January 2010).  Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009.  Available: parliament.uk/briefingpapers/commons/lib/research/briefings/snpc-05268.pdf. Accessed 19 Nov 2010. Anil K. Lal and Ronald W. Clement. (Dec 2005). Asia-Pacific Development Journal. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA:. 12 (2), p81-99 Barthorpe, S., Duncan, R. and Miller, C. (1999) A literature review on studies in culture: a pluralistic concept. In Ogunlana, S.O. (ed.), Pro. table Partnering in Construction Procurement, E.F.N. Spon, London, pp. 533–42. Bodley, J.H. (1994) Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States, and the Global System, May. eld. By  NewsDesk 2010 http://logisticsweek.com/news/2010/09/indian-construction-industry-plays-vital-role-in-countrys-overall-economic-development/ George Ofori.  Construction in Developing Countries: A Research Agenda.Available: http://web.usm.my/jcdc/input/JCDC%20VOL%2011(1)/1_George%20Ofori%20(p.1-16).pdf.   Accessed 30 Nov 2010. Hildebrandt, S., Kristensen, K., Kanji, G. and Dahlgaard, J.J. (1991) Quality culture and TQM. Total Quality Management, December, 1–15. Kroeber, A.L. and Kluckhohn, C. (1952) Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and De. nitions, Harvard University, Boston, MA. Lall, Sanjaya, 2001. Competitiveness, Technology, and Skills (Northampton, MA, Edward Elgar) Putti, J.M. and Chia, A. (1990) Culture and Management: ACasebook, McGraw-Hill, Singapore. Trauner Consulting Services. (MAY 9, 2007).   INNOVATIVE PROCUREMENT PRACTICES.   Available: http://khup.com/download/6_keyword-procurement-risk-in-construction/construction-procurement-policy.pdf   . Accessed 12 Nov 2010. ihs global insight . (2009).  Indian construction.  Available: ihsglobalinsight.com/gcpath/India_Construction_1-7.pdf. Accessed 1 Dec 2010 Ist Agencies. (2010).  Indian economy grows by 8.8% in Q1.  Available: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/Indian-economy-grows-by-88-in-Q1/articleshow/6466705.cms. Accessed 21 0ct 2010. K.R. Gupta and J.R. Gupta,  Indian Economy, Vol #2, Atlantic Publishers Distributors, 2008 The Wall Street Journal, 2008 Available:   http://blogs.livemint.com/blogs/romanticrealist/archive/2008/09/01/killer-roads-in-india-and-rethinking-the-death-penalty.aspx. Accessed on 09 Dec 2010 Corruption trips India’s rise, 2010 Available: http://empoweredindiaspeaks.blogspot.com/2010/11/corruption-trips-indias-rise.html Accessed on 09 Dec 2010 GIACC. (2008).  TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL (UK).  Available: giaccentre.org/project_anti_corruption_systems.php. Accessed on 28 Nov 2010. CIOB . (2006).  Corruption in UK construction Industry.  Available: ciob.org.uk/sites/ciob.org.uk/files/WEB-INF/files/documents/CIOBCorruption.pdf. Accessed on 17 Nov 2010 Best Practice Guideline A5: Managing construction procurement risks   March, 2004: Edition 1of CIDB document 1005 Cidb document 1005, (2004). Managing construction procurement risk. Available: cidb.org.za/Toolkit06/toolkitpages/Module5/20SupplementaryInformation/5S06%20PGA5%20risk%20edition%201.0.pdf. Accessed on 29 Nov 2010. Jo Johnson (May 2, 2007). The criminalization of Indian democracy. Financial Times. Available: docstoc.com/docs/6158688/Corruption_in_India. Accessed on 02 Dec 2010. TI-ACF.Report, 2006. RISK ASSESSMENT AND PROPOSED ACTIONS FOR FUNDERS available on anticorruptionforum.org.uk/acf/forum_publications/pccp/pccp.pdf   accesses on 27th Dec 2010 IRCI (INDIAN ROAD CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY) CAPACITY ISSUES, CONSTRAINTS RECOMMENDATIONS November, 2008 http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTSARREGTOPTRANSPORT/1858446-1195115524464/22256832/MainReportNov08_final-withdisclaimerJune09.pdf Accesses on 20th Jan 2011 James lewis 2008. CONSTRUCTION, DESTRUCTION RECONSTRUCTION: Corruption and earthquake destruction Available on http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:-ql5KsyXbC0J:datum.gn.apc.org Accesses on 15 Feb. 2011. Albert P.C. Chan, Ada P.L. Chan, (2004) Key performance indicators for measuring construction success, Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 11 Iss: 2, pp.203 221 Bibliography International Federation of Surveyors, March 2007. Paul van der Molen and Arbind Man Tuladhar. â€Å"Corruption and Land Administration† page 1-17. Asia: Prof. Anil Laul Arch. Kirtee Shah Dr. Ahmad Sanusi Hassan. Africa: Prof. Ambrose Adebayo Dr. Daniel Irurah Prof. PD Rwelamila Dr. John Ebohon. Latin America: Arch. Liliana Miranda Arc. (2001).Agenda 21 for Sustainable Construction in Developing Countries.Available: buildnet.co.za/akani/2002/nov/agenda21.pdf. Last accessed 29 Nov 2010. ICAC, 2002, Findings of corrupt conduct, Independent Commission Against Corruption 2002 Kenny, Charles. (2007).  Construction, corruption, and developing countries.Available: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2007/06/26/000016406_20070626142601/Rendered/PDF/wps4271.pdf . Accessed 12 Nov 2010. Dieter Zinnbauer, Rebecca Dobson and Krina Despota, 2009. Global Corruption Report 2009, page 258-261, 382-387. Corruption and earthquake destruction: Observations on events in Turkey, Italy and China,2008 available on   radixonline.org/latest.htm Accesses on 14 march 2011

Cardiovascular Respiratory System During Exercise Physical Education Essay

Cardiovascular Respiratory System During Exercise Physical Education Essay A good understanding of anatomy and physiology is the basis of all medicine. Without knowing how the body works, how it is made up and how it can go wrong, we cannot even begin to design effective treatments and interventions, including surgery or new pharmaceutical drugs. The body has many different systems which help to maintain the body’s normal function. Three of these functions are; the cardiovascular system, respiratory system and the musculoskeletal system. In this assignment I will be looking at how these three systems work both at resting and during exercise. Cardiovascular System Wilmore, J.H; Costill, D.L (2004) states that the cardiovascular system consists of; the heart, which acts as a pump, blood vessels acting as a system of channels and it also consists of blood which acts as a fluid medium. The cardiovascular system has three main functions: Transports oxygen and nutrients to the body’s cells and transports carbon dioxide and waste products from the b ody’s cells. Protects the body from infection and loss of blood. Helps to regulate pH balance of the body, body temperature and the balance of fluid. (Plowman, A. S; Smith, D.L; 2010). Below is a diagram which shows the circulation of the cardiovascular system. http://agingresearch.buffalo.edu/assets/images/chf_circulatory_system.jpg (Image from http://agingresearch.buffalo.edu/†¦/chf_circulatory_system.jpg) As the diagram above shows the heart pumps oxidized blood to the body so the nutrients can be distributed to the cells and remove the waste which is then returned to the heart and then into the lungs to be oxidized again to return to the body. Response to Exercise Exercise uses up a lot of energy, which the cells derive from oxidizing glucose. Both glucose and oxygen have to be delivered by the blood. This means that the heart has to work harder to pump more blood through the body. This means it has to beat faster in order to achieve a higher throughput. The cardiova scular system responds to exercise by increasing the activity level. The adrenal gland increases the production of the hormones adrenaline and nor adrenaline. These have direct effects on the heart. These hormones cause an increase in the heart rate and the force with which the heart contracts each beat. This increases the total amount of blood that is circulated in the body every minute. That increase in blood circulation is required to meet the increased demand for nutrients and oxygen that the muscles and other tissues. There are several types of exercise and they all affect the cardiovascular system in a similar way, an example of some of these are; short term light to sub maximal aerobic, long term moderate to heavy sub maximal aerobic, incremental aerobic, static exercise and resistance exercise. For the purpose of this essay I will be looking at and comparing; short term to sub maximal aerobic exercise and heavy sub maximal aerobic exercise and how they affect the cardiovascu lar system. img010img011 This image shows the graphs of the changes in the cardiovascular system during light exercise (left) and moderate to heavy exercise (right).

Marketing Manager Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marketing Manager - Essay Example Hiring a competent manager may be a difficult task, especially if you are not equipped with relevant interview questions. It is important to plan the interview because in a new company, the qualities of a marketing manager are very vital. Estimable behavioral qualities may comprise self-direction, motivation, high energy, financial ambition, and persuasive communication. At a beginning, the entrepreneur usually needs someone who is like moldable clay, not somebody who has the traits of a steel rod. They want somebody who will go an extra mile because small industries operate differently from big companies. A marketing manager is charged with the responsibility of making important decisions on behalf of the company (Einhorn, 2010). In this case, the questions for the job interview for the marketing manager aim at assessing their interpersonal communication skills, their analytical skills, marketing approach, and background. Any marketing practitioner is supposed to find out and identify what is trending in the market, the demand of products, their competitors, and prospective customers. They also need to define the product design and observe the development of the product. After developing the product’s pricing strategies, they also need to launch the new product. Finally, marketers need to use various marketing tools to sell the product (Smitt & Albaum, 2004). Open-ended questions are preferred in interviewing a marketing manager. As you ask these open-ended questions, listen not only to the content of a candidates response, but also to the voice and manner behind it. The questions to be asked should be narrowed down to professional experience of the interviewee. Sample questions are; These questions enable the candidate to know why the plan they designed failed and what they can learn from the failure. They are meant to scrutinize the

Definition of Common Law Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Definition of Common Law - Term Paper Example The name "common law" is also used to refer to the conventional and long established, precedent-based element in the law of any common-law jurisdiction, as disparate to its statutory law or legislation. As well it the term common law is also used to signify that part of the legal system that did not develop out of equity, maritime law, or other special branches of practice. (Eldon) In addition to England, common law is practiced in all of Canada except Quebec and all of the United States except Louisiana. All of these areas follow common law and U.S. state statutes usually provide that the common law, equity, and statutes in effect in England in 1603, the first year of the reign of James I, shall be deemed part of the law of the jurisdiction. (Homes) Decisions of the English courts that were made later only have persuasive authority. There are particular characteristics and features of common law that distinguish it from other types of law. The one feature that distinguishes common law is the fact that it represents the law of the courts as expressed in judicial decisions. "The grounds for deciding cases are found in precedents provided by past decisions, as contrasted to the civil law system, which is based on statutes and prescribed texts." (Holmes) In addition, the system of judicial precedents, other characteristics of common law include trial by jury and the doctrine of the supremacy of the law. In the beginning, the supremacy of the law meant that not even the king was above the law; however today it can be translated as meaning that acts of governmental agencies are subject to scrutiny in ordinary legal proceedings. Judicial precedents gain their force from the doctrine of stare decisis [Lat., =stand by the decided matter], i.e., that the previous decisions of the highest court in the jurisdiction are binding on all other courts in the jurisdiction. (Holmes) However, in the when conditions change they make most decisions inapplicable except as a basis for an analogy, and a court must consequently frequently look to the judicial experience of the rest of the English-speaking world. "This gives the system flexibility, while general acceptance of certain authoritative materials provides a degree of stability." (Eldon) On the other hand in many occurrences, the courts have failed to keep speed with social developments. As a result of this, it has become necessary to enact statutes to bring about needed changes. Without a doubt in recent years statutes have superseded a great deal of common law. This is especially true in the fields of commercial, administrative, and criminal law. Characteristically, however, in statutory interpretation, the courts have recourse to the doctrines of common law. (Eldon) In consequence increased legislation has limited but has not ended judicial supremacy. Â  

The anti-Federalists Essay Example for Free

The anti-Federalists Essay Republicans. These were people who were strongly opposed to the United States Constitution. They wanted a strong state government instead of a strong central government. To them if the central government was too strong then it would threaten the peoples liberties and right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The anti-Federalists were made up of anyone who was poor and not a big landowner, anyone tired of being controlled, anyone who wanted the peoples votes to directly count and anyone who wanted to protect their rights. The anti-Federalists were made up of all different types of people, while the Federalists were mainly upper class. The anti-Federalists represented the United States population as a whole better than the Federalists. When it came to the way the government was run the anti-Federalists wanted the complete opposite of the Federalists. The anti-Federalists wanted their power in the legislature, mainly the lower house where every state has one vote. They wanted the terms of office to be shorter, with limits on how many terms you could serve. These officials were not to be elected by representatives but directly by the people of the United States. The only way the anti-Federalists would ever even consider helping to ratify the Constitution was if it contained a Bill of Rights, which they thought was essential for preserving the individual liberties (www.consitutioncenter.org) of the people. Without this document the government could control every one like a tyranny. To them the Constitution without the Bill of Rights was just a weapon of the upper class against the poor. The figurehead of the anti-Federalists was Thomas Jefferson who later became President of The United States. The funny thing about Jefferson was for a long time he would not choose sides between the Federalists and the anti-Federalists, he was totally against political parties. He was for a strong central government, which was more of a Federalists view. What made Jefferson come to his senses was Alexander Hamilton and his implied powers Implied powers were powers which were not stated directly in the  Constitution (http://www.constitutionfacts.com/gbody.shtml), in other words powers that were assumed by the government. Jefferson was totally against this, he believed that the Constitution could do the things which the Constitution states it can and nothing should be assumed. This was the start of a great feud between Hamilton and Jefferson, the first real battle of political parties for election in office. In the fight between Federalists and anti-Federalists propaganda played a large role on both sides. It first started in speeches and local newspapers when three Federalists wrote in to share their opinions. The anti-Federalists followed suit and read their own speeche

Argumentative Essay: Gun Control Violates the Second Amendment :: Constituton Bill Rights Right To Bear Arms

Few issues incite americans more than the issue of rising crime and violence. This problem can easily be linked to the availability of guns."The debate over whether guns are a hallowed tradition and a right guaranteed by the Second Ammendment of the U.S.constitution or whether they are a fearful danger contributing to crime and violence." ("gun control") Due to the outbreak of violence in our society, some people feel that repealing the Second Ammendment would solve the problem. These people feel that repealing the Second Ammendment would solve the problem. These people feel that there are two reasons for the repeal; One is the rising of violence among teenagers, the second reason is their interpertation of the Second Ammendment which could be considered a strict one. The side opposing these views use arguments like how it would be immpossible to repeal the Second Ammendment, and a long western civilizations history with a right to bear arms. Finally one can see the conflict of views dealing with the Second Ammenment, but one would also see that repealing the ammendment wouldn't solve the problem facing our society. The contriversy of this issue that has the potential to pulverise this country is why it is such a good topic to discuss, people should be better informed and make a decision based on fact and not fiction. Many advocates of the limitations of guns can quote numerous examples of increasing violence and homicide crimes. But the area which hits the closest to home is the issue of violence among the teenagers of our society. The years have changed on how students deal with their problems "Twenty-five or thirty years ago, when teenage boys got into a fight... it usually meant a fist fight. In more and more neighborhoods... it now means a shoot out" ("Gun Control"320). Violence like that is a major problem on our streets and even in our schools. Almost everywhere now "youngsters are packing weapons, Some are involved in drugs or gangs; others carry them for self-defense... One study says at least one in every three male juveniles is armed"(Muller 2). Now more than ever before an "increasing number of children under the age of 18 arrested each year for murder has jumped 55% in the past decade,... Juvenile arrests for aggravated assault are rising dramatically" (Henkoff 2). The results of this rising trend in violence has led to the release of a "center for disease center reports that since 1988, American teenage boys have been more likely to die from gunshot wounds than from... All other natural diseases" ("Gun Control" 83).

Factors Affecting Share Prices

International Research Journal of Finance and Economics ISSN 1450-2887 Issue 30 (2009)  © EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2009 http://www. eurojournals. com/finance. htm Determinants of Equity Prices in the Stock Markets Somoye, Russell Olukayode Christopher Dept. of Banking & Finance, Faculty of Management Science Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Nigeria P. O. Box 1104 Ijebu-Ode, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria E-mail: [email  protected] com Akintoye, Ishola Rufus Dept. of Accounting, Faculty of Management Science Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Nigeria E-mail: [email  protected] com Oseni, Jimoh Ezekiel Dept. f Banking and Finance, Faculty of Management Science Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Nigeria E-mail: [email  protected] com Abstract Brav & Heaton (2003) alleges market indeterminacy (a situation where it is impossible to determine whether an asset is efficiently or inefficiently priced) in the stock market. Kang (2008) argue that empirical tests of linear asset pricing models show presence of mispricing in asset pricing. Asset pricing is considered efficient if the asset price reflects all available market information to the extent no informed trader can outperform the market and / or the uninformed trader.This study examined the extent to which some â€Å"information factors† or market indices affect the stock price. A model defined by Al-Tamimi (2007) was used to regress the variables (stock prices, earnings per share, gross domestic product, lending interest rate and foreign exchange rate) after testing for multicollinarity among the independent variables. The multicollinarity test revealed very strong correlation between gross domestic product and crude oil price, gross domestic product and foreign exchange rate, lending interest rate and inflation rate.All the variables have positive correlation to stock prices with the exception of lending interest rate and foreign exchange rate. The outcomes of the study agree w ith earlier studies by Udegbunam and Eriki (2001); Ibrahim (2003) and Chaudhuri and Smiles (2004). This study has enriched the existing literature while it would help policy makers who are interested in deploying instruments of monetary policy and other economic indices for the growth of the capital market. Keywords: Stock prices, CAPM, models, coefficient, efficient, stock market. International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 30 (2009) 78 1. 0. Introduction The price of a commodity, the economist makes us to believe is determined by the forces of demand and supply in a free economy. Even if we accept the economists’ view, what factors influence demand and supply behavior? Price? Yes, but not all the time, at least there are some other factors. In the securities market, whether the primary or the secondary market, the price of equity is significantly influenced by a number of factors which include book value of the firm, dividend per share, earnings p er share, price earning ratio and dividend cover (Gompers, Ishii & Metrick, 2003).The most basic factors that influence price of equity share are demand and supply factors. If most people start buying then prices move up and if people start selling prices go down. Government policies, firm’s and industry’s performance and potentials have effects on demand behaviour of investors, both in the primary and secondary markets. The factors affecting the price of an equity share can be viewed from the macro and micro economic perspectives. Macro economic factors include politics, general economic conditions – i. e. how the economy is performing, government regulations, etc.Then there may be other factors like demand and supply conditions which can be influenced by the performance of the company and, of course, the performance of the company vis-a-vis the industry and the other players in the industry. In a study of the impact of dividend and earnings on stock prices, Ha rtone (2004) argues that a significantly positive impact is made on equity prices if positive earnings information occurs after negative dividend information. Also, a significantly negative impact occurs in equity pricing if positive dividend information is followed by negative earning information.Docking and Koch (2005) discovers that there is a direct relationship between dividend announcement and equity price behavior. Al-Qenae, Li & Wearing (2002) in their study of the effects of earning (micro-economic factor), inflation and interest rate (macro-economic factors) on the stock prices on the Kuwait Stock Exchange, discovered that the macro-economic factors significantly impact stock prices negatively. A previous study by Udegbunam and Eriki (2001) of the Nigerian capital market also shows that inflation is inversely correlated to stock market price behaviour.A number of models developed for asset pricing are two variable models. For instance the Capital asset pricing model (CAPM) developed by Sharpe (1964) considers the risk-free return and volatility of the risk-free return to market return as the determinants of asset price. Asset price as described by CAPM is linearly related to the two independent variables. Many studies have concluded that over the years assets were being underpriced (Smith, 1977; Loderer, Sheehan & Kadlec, 1991) and this raises the question of the adequacy of the various asset pricing models to ensure efficient asset pricing.Brav & Heaton (2003) alleges market indeterminacy, a situation where it is impossible to determine whether an asset is efficiently or inefficiently priced. Kang (2008) found that empirical tests of linear asset pricing models show presence of mispricing in asset pricing. Asset pricing is considered efficient if the asset price reflects all available market information to the extent no informed trader can outperform the market and / or the uninformed trader. This study aims at examining the extent to which some â⠂¬Å"information factors† or market indices affect the stock price.The rest of the paper is designed as follows: Section 2 reviews literature on factors influencing asset prices, effects of inefficient asset pricing and some of the existing asset pricing techniques. Section 3 states the data and the sources, the data restructuring and the model used for data analysis while Section 4 discussed and interpret the results of the data analysis. Lastly, section 4 is the conclusion. 2. 0. Conceptual Framework and Literature Review 2. 1. Conceptual Framework Several attempts have been made to identify or study the factors that affect asset prices.Some researchers have also tried to determine the correlation between selected factors (internal and external, 179 International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 30 (2009) market and non-market factors, economic and non-economic factors) and asset prices. The outcomes of the studies vary depending on the scope of the st udy, the assets and factors examined. Zhang (2004) designed a multi-index model to determine the effect of industry, country and international factors on asset pricing. Byers and Groth (2000) defined the asset pricing process as a function utility (economic factors) and non-economic (psychic) factors.Clerc and Pfister (2001) posit that monetary policy is capable of influencing asset prices in the long run. Any change in interest rates especially unanticipated change affects growth expectations and the rates for discounting investment future cash flows. Ross’ (1977) APT model which could be taken as a protest of one factor model of CAPM which assumes that asset price depends only on market factor believe that the asset price is influenced by both the market and non-market factors such as foreign exchange, inflation and unemployment rates.One of the defects of APT in spite of its advancement of asset pricing model is that the factors to be included in asset pricing are unspecif ied. Al – Tamimi (2007) identified company fundamental factors (performance of the company, a change in board of directors, appointment of new management, and the creation of new assets, dividends, earnings), and external factors ( government rules and regulations, inflation, and other economic conditions, investor behavior, market conditions, money supply, competition, uncontrolled natural or environmental circumstances) as influencers of asset prices.He developed a simple regression model to measure the coefficients of correlation between the independent and dependent variables. SP = f (EPS, DPS, OL, GDP, CPI, INT, MS) Where, SP: Stock price; EPS: Earnings per share; DPS: Dividend per share; OL: Oil price; GDP: Gross domestic product; CPI: Consumer price index; INT: Interest rate and MS: Money supply. He discovered that the firm’s fundamental factors exercise the most significant impact on stock prices.The EPS was found to be the most influencing factor over the mark et. Studying the effects of the Iraq war on US financial markets, Rigobon and Sack (2004) discovered that increases in war risk caused declines in Treasury yields and equity prices, a widening of lower-grade corporate spreads, a fall in the dollar, and a rise in oil prices. A positive correlation exists between the price of oil and war. They argue that war has a significant impact on the oil price.Tymoigne (2002) argue that in the financial market, banking convention and financial convention work together to fix the assets’ market prices. According to him the financial convention creates a speculative sentiment of whether capitalists are more prone to sell, or to buy assets while the banking convention determines the state of credit as evidenced by the confidence of the banking sector and ability of investors accessing credit leverage for asset acquisition purpose.He concluded that â€Å"conventions do not determine asset-price, it is the â€Å"law of supply and demand† that does so, conventionsâ€Å"only† influence the behaviors of financial actors† Inflation as an external factor exerts a very significant negative influence on the stock prices in Nigeria (Zhao,1999 & Udegbunam and Eriki, 2001). Factors affecting asset prices are numerous and inexhaustible. The factors can be categorized into firm, industry, country and international or market and non-market factors, and economic and noneconomic factors. All the factors can be summarized into two classes – micro and macro factors.Factors in each class of the classification are inexhaustible. For instance, the firm factors include, ownership structure, management quality, labour force quality, earnings ratios, dividend payments, net book value, etc. have impact on the investor’s pricing decision. Molodovsky (1995) believes that dividends are the hard core of stock value. The value of any asset equals the present value of all cash flows of the asset. 2. 2. Effects Of In efficient Asset Pricing Inefficient asset pricing could be a catalyst to inefficient resource allocation among competing productive investment opportunities.Underpricing can serve as positive signal to the market (Giammariano & Lewis, 1989) to compensate the uninformed and get them to participate in the new International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 30 (2009) 180 offer (Rock, 1986; Allen & Faulhaber, 1989; Grinblatt & Hwang, 1989; Welch, 1989). The market is information-sensitive. Prices tend to take a declining trend few days to the release of a firm’s new offer and the price recovery starts few days after the completion of the offer, especially if he offer is fully subscribed (Barclay and Litzenberger, 1988). Easley, Hridkjaer and O’Hara (2001) agree that market is information sensitive at least to the extent that private (insider) information affect asset returns and advised that it should not be ignored for efficient asset pricing. The f irm’s beta ratios, its market value to book value, its current price to earnings ratio and the historical growth rate in earning per share are identified by Moore & Beltz (2002) as possessing strong influence on the equity price of the firm.They also argue that the identified factors have varying effects on the price and the effects vary from time to time, sector to sector and even from firm to firm within the same industry. For instance, they argue that equity prices of individual firm in heavy industries (chemical, petroleum, metal and manufacturing) are exclusively influenced by the firm’s beta and market to book value while firms in the technology sector are influenced by the historical growth rate in earning per share as well as beta and market to book value ratio.The equity price in transportation industry is affected by beta and price to earning ratio. Though, Moore & Beltz (2002) constructed a tree relating the impact of each identified factors in each of the s elected model but did not construct a model that could be used in assessing direct impact of the identified factors on the equity price. Asset pricing could be a challenge.Hordahl & Packer (2006) argue that a clear understanding of the asset’s stochastic discount factor and future payoffs is necessary to understand the factors that determine the price of an asset. Unfortunately, only Government instruments provide their stochastic discount factor in advance while the future payoffs are not observable directly but could be derived from some other data. Corwin (2003 identifies uncertainty and asymmetric information as a strong influence on the firm’s equity pricing and as a matter of fact lead to underpriced instrument.In the light of the preceding literature review, many factors both micro and macro-economics, have impact on equity pricing in the stock market, the impact differs from firm to firm, industry to industry, economy to economy and from time to time, but one c omforting conclusion is that most of the factors appear to have the same behaviour regardless of time, industry or firm constraints.For instance, increased inflation and interest rates, declining dividends, earnings, poor management leave negative impact on equity pricing and vice-versa 2. 3. Asset Pricing Techniques There are several asset pricing models aside from CAPM and APT which are both linear model. A few of the available (non-linear) asset pricing techniques are reviewed in this section. 2. 3. 1. Residual Income Valuation This is one of the oldest valuation model with a trace to the work of Preinreich (1938).The valuation model discounts the future expected dividends and potential value of shareholders’ funds to the present value, giving effect to a proposition that the price of equity can be derived from the present value of all future dividends. Lo and Lys (2000) reviewed the Olhson Model (OM) developed in by Ohlson (1995) and which has been acknowledged with wide acceptance (Joos & Zhdanov, 2007; Chen & Zhao, 2008). The OM provides a platform for the empirical test of the residual income valuation (RIV).Lo and Lys (2000) defined RIV as: RIV = Pt = ? R-r Et (dt+r) Where Pt is defined as the equity market price at time t, dt represents dividends at the end of time t, R is the unity plus the discount rate (r) and Et is the expectation factor at time t. The RIV from the present value of expected dividend is based on the assumptions that (i) the accounting system meets the â€Å"clean surplus relation† i. e. 181 International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 30 (2009) To derive RIV from PVED, two additional assumptions are made.First, an â€Å"accounting system† that satisfies a clean surplus relation (CSR) is assumed: bt = bt-1 + xt – dt, bt represents the book value of equity at time t, xt represents the earnings at time t, and (ii) it is assumed that the book value of equity would grow at a rate les s than R, that is R-r Et (bt+r) —————) 0 The assumptions form the basis to argue that the present value of expected dividend is a function of both the book value and discounted expected abnormal earnings.In that case RIV signifying the price of the asset can be stated thus: Pt = bt +? t=1 R-r Et (xat+r) Where xat = xt – rbt-1. Testing RIV empirically could be a contention on the premises that it has only one sided hypothesis: asset price is a function present value of future dividends. A rejection of the hypothesis when tested empirically may arouse dissenting voices from researchers who had believed in the efficacy of the model. In fact, Lee (2006) expressed the view that residual income valuation model provides a better valuation than the dividend model.John and Williams (1985), and Miller and Rock (1985), argue that dividend is a communication tool for the firm to pass information to the market in the event of information asymmetry which implies that there is a positive correlation between information asymmetry and a firm’s dividend policy. 2. 3. 2. Economic Valuation Model This model traced to Tully (2000) is developed to recognize economic profits as against the use of book profit in the valuation of asset.The model builds on the premises of profit maximization by owners of the firm and the profit is not to be restricted to book value, rather it covers the opportunity cost of not investing in profitable projects. Economical profit is differentiated from the book profit as the difference from revenues and economical costs (i. e. book costs plus opportunity cost of failure to invest in profitable project. The book profit can be defined as revenue less costs while economic profit is defined as total revenue from investment less cost of capital.Economic profit is higher than normal book profit because of the opportunity cost considered in the former. There are two approaches to the estimation of economic value added (Koller, Goedhart & Wessels, 2005; Jennergren, 2008). The first is NOPLAT less capital charge (i. e. WACC multiplied by initial capital outlay). The value of the operating assets is therefore the initial capital outlay plus the present value of cash flows derived from economic value added.To obtain the equity value, the value of debt is deducted from the value of the operating assets. The second approach involves EBIT less taxes (i. e. PAT). PAT less capital charge after recognizing deferred taxes as part of the invested capital. The operating assets remain as the initial capital outlay (having considered the effect of deferred taxes) plus the present value of all income derived from the economic value added.Economic Valuation of Asset (EVA) Model as defined by Kislingerova (2000) is stated as: EVAt = Pt = NOPATt – Ct x WACCt where NOPATt is Net Operating Profit After Tax or the profit after tax (PAT), Ct is long-term capital (Ct is the sum of equity and invested capita l or alternatively, it is the total of fixed assets and net working capital), WACC is Weighted Average Cost of Capital. Whenever EVA > O, the shareholders’ wealth is maximized, if EVA =0 then there is a break-even point and at EVA < 0 the shareholders’ wealth is in decline.EVA model serves as a tool in measuring both the performance of the firms as well its value. WACC serves a dual purpose. It is used in the calculation of EVA and its serves as the rate for discounting the present value of future earnings to the present time t. The value of the firm is therefore the addition of the book value of capital and the present value of future EVA. To derive the value of equity the value of debt would be deducted from the value of the firm. International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 30 (2009) 182 2. 3. 3.Discounted Cash Flow Model The model uses accounting data as input and the objective of the model is to derive equity value of a going concern. The value of equity is derived by deducting the value of debt (excluding deferred taxes and trade credits) from the total assets. Deferred taxes are regarded as part of equity (Brealey, Myers & Allen, 2006). There are several variations to the adoption of the model (Jennergren, 2008). The discounted cash flow (DCF) is more adaptable to the valuation of a firm with high level of assets in place and low level of uncertainty about future cash flows (Joos & Zhdanov, 2007).Cash flows available for discounting include dividends, free cash flow to equity and free cash to the firm (debt and equity). A firm can experience three types of growth ranging from stable growth, high growth to stable growth and high growth through transition to a stable growth. The discount rate could be either cost of equity, cost of debt or the weighted cost of capital (WACC). The choice of discount rate should depend on the type of cash flow (equity or firm) to be discounted. At least two models can be derived from the cash flow model.The Dividend Discount (DD) Model is suitable for a firm that pays dividends close to the free cash flow or where it is difficult to estimate the free cash flow to equity. The second model, Free Cash Flow Model is suitable where there is a significant margin between dividends and free cash flow to equity or if dividends are not available. The value of firm witnessing stable growth is given as: C:UsersjoseniD esk top D esk to pDISCOUNTED CA SHFLOW MODELS WHA T THEY A RE A ND HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT ON E__filesImage8. if or a firm that experiences two stages of growth (i. e. high growth to stable growth), the value of the firm is: C:UsersjoseniDesk topDesk topDISCOUNTED CA SHFLOW MODELS WHA T THEY A RE A ND HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT ONE__filesImage9. gif The value of a firm experiencing three levels of growth (i. e. high growth through transition to stable growth) is given as: C:UsersjoseniDesk topDesk topDISCOUNTED CA SHFLOW MODELS WHA T THEY A RE A ND HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT ONE__filesImage10. gifWhere V0 represents equity value or firm value depending on which is discounted, CFt represents cash flow at time t, r represents cost of equity (for dividends or free cash flow to equity) or cost of capital ( for free cash flow to firm), g represents expected growth rate, ga represents initial expected growth (high growth period) and gn represents growth in a stable period; n and n1 are defined as the period in a two stage growth and high growth in a three stage growth models respectively while n2-n1 represents the transition period in the three stage growth model. . 3. 4. Dividend Valuation Model This is one of the commonest and simplest models for valuation of equity in the secondary market. The equity value is taken as the summation of discounted dividends receivable each year till the year of maturity and the price the equity is expected to be sold at maturity. The value of an investment is taken to be the discounted value of the cash flows.There are different variations to the model ranging from: One period valuation one Period to multi-periods Po = D1/(1 + ke) + P1/(1 + ke) Po = D1/(1 + ke)1 + D2/(1+ke)2 +†¦+ Dn/(1+ke)n + Pn/(1+ke)n – multi- period and to indeterminate length of time Infinity and, growth Po = D/(1+ke) (including Gordon growth) variations. D0(1+g)1 + D0(1+g)2 +†¦.. + D0(1+g)? Po = (1+ke)1 (1+ke)2 (1+ke)? or 183 Po = International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 30 (2009) D0– ke – g) Where: D = dividend paid / expected g = dividend’s growth rate = cost of equity or equity rate of return ke 1 – – n = period variation One of the motives behind the use of this valuation model is to identify over and underpriced shares. Moving away from the simplest form of this model Go and Olhson (1990) introduced a more tasking process for generating dividends and returns on equity investment which they adopted in some more specific valuation models .The process is based on some assumptions such that equity holders would receive net dividends and there exists a linear relationship between variables. John and Williams (1985), and Miller and Rock (1985) argue that dividend is a communication tool for the firm to pass information to the market in the event of information asymmetry which implies that there is a positive correlation between information asymmetry and a firm’s dividend policy. 3. 0. Research Methodology We define the research hypotheses, sampling and data collection techniques as well as the statistical techniques used to test the data. . 1. Research Methodology We test the following hypotheses: Ho1: The earning per share significantly affects the stock price Ho2: The national gross domestic products significantly affect the stock price Ho3: The lending interest rate significantly affect the stock price Ho4: The foreign exchange rate significantly affect the stock price 3. 2. Model From the hypotheses, the stoc k price is a function of the impact of earning per share, dividend per share, gross domestic, interest rate and oil price.We restricted the influencing factors to five as representatives of the firm’s fundamental factors and external (country) factors. A simple linear regression model derived from Al-Tamimi (2007) is adopted for the study. Unlike Al-Tamimi (2007) who included consumer price index (CPI) and money supply (MS) as independent variables, those variables were replaced with inflation rate (INFL) and foreign exchange rate (FX) in view of the significant impact they have on the economies of developing countries.SP = f (EPS, DPS, GDP, INT, OIL, INFL, FX) Where, SP is the stock price; EPS is the earnings per share; DPS is the dividend per share; GDP is the gross domestic product, INT is the lending interest rate, OIL is the oil price; INFL is inflation and FX is the foreign exchange rate. SP is the dependent variable and it is used to regress the other independent varia bles (EPS, DPS, GDP, INT, OIL, INFL, FX) in the stock market. The outcome of the regression would be the variance on the dependent variable as resulting from the impact of the independent variables.To explain the effects of multicollinearity normally associated with multi-variables in regression analysis, multicollinearity test is conducted to explain the extent of correlation between the independent variables.. A multiple regression software (WASSA) was used to test the multicollinearity among the independent variables before proceeding to conduct the regression analysis. International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 30 (2009) 3. 3. Data Sampling 184 There are over 130 companies whose shares are being traded in the Nigerian capital market.The Banking sector in the last five years has dominated the market in terms of trading volumes and market performance. The earning per share (EPS) and dividend per share (DPS) of twelve companies listed on the Nigerian Sto ck Exchange (NSE) and (average) annual GDP, crude oil price (OIL), lending interest rate (INT), inflation rate (INFL) and foreign exchange rate (FX) are used are analysed for effect on the stock price. The period covered by the data is year 2001 to 2007. The choice of the companies and period used for the data gathering depend on availability of data. . 4. Data Restructuring Weights are attached to EPS and DPS for each of the companies sampled for each of the year. The weight is derived as a ratio of the company’s EPS or DPS to the total EPS or DPS of all the companies for each of the years. The weight is thereafter multiplied with the respective company EPS or DPS to derive â€Å"weighted stock price (SP), EPS or DPS and thereafter all the companies weighted SP, EPS or DPS are summed together for each of the year (APPENDIX I). 4. 0. Findings and InterpretationIn a linear expression where more than two variables are deployed, multicollinearity between variables may not be ru led out. A multicollinearity test is therefore conducted for all the independent variables. Using the Pearson coefficient of correlation, we consider any correlation between two variables > + 0. 75 as strong. For instance, from Table 1 below there is no significant correlation between earnings per share and dividend per share. Our explanations for it are into parts.First, all the companies in the sample reported earnings per share for each of the years covered by the study though in some instances the EPS are negative but not all the companies declared and /or paid dividends throughout all the periods. Secondly, EPS movement unlike DPS is largely outside the control of the Management. There is a strong correlation between crude oil price and GDP. The justification for the correlation between crude oil price and GDP can be found in the fact that the Nigerian economy predominantly depends on oil revenue.Table I: DPS EPS GDP OIL INT INF FX Outcomes of the Multicollinarity Test (Pearson Coefficient of Correlation DPS 1 -0. 302 0. 609 -0. 395 -0. 498 -0. 521 0. 724 EPS 1 -0. 523 -0. 596 0. 366 0. 778 -0. 037 GPD 1 0. 959 -0. 702 -0. 492 0. 795 OIL INT INFL FX 1 -0. 706 -0. 434 0. 614 1 0. 988 -0. 424 1 -0. 313 1 A strong correlation also exist between INFL and INT which might be the result of manufacturers and service providers passing increased lending interest rate to consumers. A strong correlation exists between FX and GDP.Unexpectedly, there is a strong correlation between INF and EPS, we do not have any explanation for this relationship. For our regression analysis, OIL and INFL were dropped from the model. Though there is a strong correlation between FX and GDP, both variables are used in the regression. FX and GDP variables are significant to the economy of developing nations like Nigeria, therefore their exclusion from the regression would result in a very high constant (? ). 185 International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 30 (20 09)A regression analysis was run on the independent variables DPS, EPS, GDP and INT after dropping OIL, INFL and FX. Table I shows the result of the regression analysis. Table II: Summary of the Regression Analysis R2 0. 99996 ? – 67. 2385 0. 3835 0. 0869 0. 3805 – 0. 8236 – 1. 9741 Adjusted R2 0. 99978 T – Test – 9. 597 36. 259 33. 369 21. 809 – 7. 375 – 11. 214 Standard Error of Estimates 0. 4752 F – Test 5385. 033 R 0. 99998 Constant DPS EPS GDP INT FX The stock price (P) is highly sensitive to variation as indicated by R2 of 0. 99996. In other words there is 99. 9% and as a matter of fact 100% in stock variation caused by the independent variables. The variability as measured by coefficient of variation (? ) is expectedly positive for DPS, EPS and GDP and expectedly negative for lending interest (INT) though quite significantly. The ? for DPS and EPS though positive were not significant. Many of the companies resorted to bo nus issues instead of dividends and the Nigerian investors are more interested in incomes rather than capital appreciation especially where the stock market performance is poor.The failure to declare and pay dividend leaves two negative impacts on stock prices. The existing investors are denied additional funds to invest and the potential investors seeking investment incomes are discouraged. The hypothesis that EPS affect stock price significantly is accepted. The positive GDP’s coefficient in relation to the stock price is in agreement with some other studies (Udegbunam and Eriki,2001; Ibrahim 2003; Mukherjee and Naka 1995; Chaudhuri and Smiles, 2004). The ? is insignificant at 0. 805 and this might not be unconnected with the increasing foreign reserve maintained by CBN from the proceeds of crude oil sales. The proceeds of the crude oil sales are not released to the economy for investment in various productive sectors of the economy but rather held in foreign economies as p art of the CBN’s monetary policies. The domestic economy is denied of the investments that would have occurred if the funds in the foreign reserve are released for spending in the domestic economy. The hypothesis that the GDP affects stock price significantly is accepted.The coefficient of interest which is negative is expected and found to be significant. The negative coefficient of the lending interest rate is in agreement with the findings of Al-Qenae, Li & Wearing (2002), and Mukherjee and Naka (1995). Lending interest rate is a strong tool in the hands of CBN to influence the economy and where the interest is high as it is Nigeria where lending interest rates hovers between 22% and 25%, the accessibility of the investors to access funds is curtailed and the impact on the stock price would be negative as shown.The hypothesis that lending interest rate affects the stock price significantly is accepted The foreign exchange rate’s coefficient is significantly negative at significant level of 10%. This is not unexpected. Local and foreign investors tend to invest in an economy that has a very high currency exchange rate to foreign currencies. The local investors are discouraged from taking their funds out of the economy for fear of reduced purchasing while foreign investors are encouraged otherwise for increased purchasing power. The hypothesis that foreign exchange rate affects the stock price significantly is accepted.Lastly, the constant (? ) is 67. 2385 (negative). This suggests that the minimum stock price in the market is < 0. We had initially excluded FX from the regression for the reason of its collinearity with GDP but the constant was negative and excessively high. The inclusion of FX has reduced the negativity which is an indication that there are other important variable(s) that significantly affect the stock prices but not considered in this study. The stock price cannot be < 0 except the company is in liquidation. International Rese arch Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 30 (2009) 186This raises an important question of what factor(s) could have accounted for the extra ordinary stock market performance in Nigeria between 2005 and 2007 where some stocks return over 1000% per annum. The nation House of Representative’s Committee on Capital Markets expressed disgust at the hike in the stock prices of companies in the banking and oil sectors (Thisday Newspapers, 2008). The â€Å"hike† which may not be a non-economic factor (such as political, unhealthy competition, profiteering by issuers who are at the same time market investors) may be the omitted important variable accounting for the high ?. . 0. Conclusions and Recommendations The forces of demand and supply have direct effect on the stock price while the other indeterminate number of firm, industry and country factors influences the demand and supply factors. The effect, positive or negative the other factors apart from the demand a nd supply leave on stock price are not static rather changes. For instance, lending interest rate effect could be positive or negative depending on the aim of the CBN in deploying it as one of the tools for implementing monetary policy.The study has contributed to existing literatures in confirming or raising new issues with respect to other factors influencing stock prices. 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Frank (2004) â€Å"Information Uncertainty and Stock Returns† An Article Submitted to The Journal of Finance Manuscript 1149 www. afajof. rg/afa/forthcoming/zhang_information. pdf Zhao, Xing-Qiu (1999), â€Å"Stock prices, inflation and output: evidence from China,† Applied Economics Letters, 6 Appendix Appendix I: Selected Market Indices (2001 – 2007) YEAR PRICE* DPS* EPS* GDP** INT** 42. 53 430. 00 393. 29 431,783. 10 21. 34 2001 43. 70 432. 72 412. 52 451,785. 60 29. 70 2002 109. 21 577. 63 459. 83 495,007. 10 22. 47 2003 116 . 76 552. 48 600. 59 527,576. 00 20. 62 2004 110. 56 466. 97 708. 90 561,931. 40 19. 47 2005 102. 33 553. 87 1,666. 03 595,821. 61 18. 43 2006 95. 87 549. 93 894. 96 561,776. 34 19. 1 2007 Source: Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin** : Cashcraft Asset Management Limited / APT Securities and Fund Limited * OIL** 24. 50 25. 40 29. 10 38. 70 57. 60 66. 50 54. 27 INFLE** 18. 90 12. 90 14. 00 15. 00 17. 90 8. 20 13. 70 FX ** 111. 94 120. 97 129. 36 133. 50 132. 15 128. 65 131. 43 189 International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 30 (2009) Appendix II: Regression Analysis Of Selected Market Indices (2001 – 2007) Multiple Linear Regression – Estimated Regression Equation SP[t] = +0. 38353330161483 DPS[t] +0. 086971432931437 EPS[t] +0. 38049146437789 GDP[t] -0. 82357353121514 INT[t] -1. 740597666311 FX[t] -67. 238476376193 + e[t] Multiple Linear Regression – Ordinary Least Squares Variable DPS[t] EPS[t] GDP[t] INT[t] FX[t] Constant Var iable %DPS[t] %EPS[t] %GDP[t] %INT[t] %FX[t] %Constant Variable Parameter 0. 383533 0. 086971 0. 380491 -0. 823574 -1. 97406 -67. 238476 Elasticity 2. 201042 0. 359282 2. 221624 -0. 200986 -2. 822992 -0. 75797 Stand. Coeff. S. E. 0. 010577 0. 002606 0. 017447 0. 111666 0. 17603 7. 006084 S. E. * 0. 060703 0. 010767 0. 101869 0. 027251 0. 25173 0. 078979 S. E. * T-STAT H0: parameter = 0 36. 259468 33. 368601 21. 808584 -7. 375331 -11. 214366 -9. 597156 T-STAT H0: |elast| = 1 19. 785697 -59. 07274 11. 992081 -29. 320395 7. 241855 -3. 064493 T-STAT H0: coeff = 0 2-tail p-value 0. 017553 0. 019073 0. 029171 0. 085794 0. 056618 0. 066096 2-tail p-value 0. 032148 0. 010697 0. 052964 0. 021704 0. 087356 0. 200805 2-tail p-value 1-tail p-value 0. 008776 0. 009536 0. 014585 0. 042897 0. 028309 0. 033048 1-tail p-value 0. 016074 0. 005349 0. 026482 0. 010852 0. 043678 0. 100402 1-tail p-value 0. 008776 0. 009536 0. 014585 0. 042897 0. 028309 0. 5 S-DPS[t] 0. 763848 0. 021066 36. 259468 0. 017 553 S-EPS[t] 0. 69251 0. 020753 33. 368601 0. 019073 S-GDP[t] 0. 729372 0. 033444 21. 808584 0. 029171 S-INT[t] -0. 09814 0. 013307 -7. 75331 0. 085794 S-FX[t] -0. 48017 0. 042817 -11. 214366 0. 056618 S-Constant 0 0 0 1 Computed against deterministic endogenous series *Note Multiple Linear Regression – Regression Statistics Multiple R 0. 999981 R-squared 0. 999963 Adjusted R-squared 0. 999777 F-TEST 5385. 033289 Observations 7 Degrees of Freedom 1 Multiple Linear Regression – Residual Statistics Standard Error 0. 475177 Sum Squared Errors 0. 225793 Log Likelihood 2. 086595 Durbin-Watson 3. 380955 Von Neumann Ratio 3. 944448 # e[t] > 0 3 # e[t] < 0 4 # Runs 6 Runs Statistic 1. 333946 NB: Regression analysis was done using a software developed by Wessa (2008)