Corporate Governance Practices Of Indian Listed Companies - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 12 Words: 3471 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? Abstract: The paper uses disclosure scores to examine corporate governance practices of Indian listed companies. A content analysis of 50 companies listed on the NSE has been carried out. A disclosure index compiled by SP has been developed to determine how much listed Indian companies disclose. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Corporate Governance Practices Of Indian Listed Companies" essay for you Create order This study reveals that Indian companies are quite transparent. The research findings shall enable the investors in estimating how much disclosure listed Indian companies make. It will also add to the increasingly inadequate literature relating to corporate governance and disclosure practices in developing countries. This study though has limitations since the focus lies only on 50 companies listed on the NSE which are the largest and most followed stocks and may not represent all Indian companies. Contents Chapter 1: Introduction Introduction Corporate governance has received increased importance in the aftermath of collapses of large companies worldwide such as Enron and WorldCom. Economies worldwide are now realizing the importance of good governance (Standard Poorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s 2008). The developed countries realized the importance of governance mainly following corporate scandals of the west (Reed, 2002). In some cases these scandals led to a direct response e.g. the Cadbury Report (Boyd, 1996 cited in Reed, 2002, p.228). On the other hand, in developing countries such as Brazil and India, poor economic performance had often led to economic crisis. Consequently, these countries came under the control of bodies such as International Monetary Fund and World Bank. These bodies impose many regulations which require increased attention to governance issues (Reed, 2002). As opposed to developed countries, developing countries paid no attention to governance issues until the financial crisis of East Asia in the late 90s (Oman C., 2003, Mangena and Tauringana, 2007). However, Sobhan and Werner (2003) view that these countries started giving importance to governance issues not because of the East Asian financial crisis but by problems in their own financial markets. Goswami (2003) reiterates this by writing that corporate governance movement began in India due to some corporate scandals that came to the forefront during the first phase of economic liberalization in the country in 1991. Transparency and disclosure are at the heart of corporate governance. Transparency and disclosure helps reduce the information gap between the management of a company and its shareholders and thus helps resolving agency issues in corporate governance (Patel, Balic and Bwakira, 2002). Background Fig. 1 below depicts clearly that India ranks quite high among the developing countries with respect to its governance practices next only to South Africa and Poland. Figure : Governance Ratings of Developing Countries, 2008 (Source: Governance Metrics International) Corporate Governance in India As opposed to developed countries, developing countries paid no attention to governance issues until the financial crisis of East Asia in the late 90s (Oman C., 2003, Mangena and Tauringana, 2007). However, Sobhan and Werner (2003) view that these countries started giving importance to governance issues not because of the East Asian financial crisis but by problems in their own financial markets. Goswami (2003) reiterates this by writing that corporate governance movement began in India due to some corporate scandals that came to the forefront during the first phase of economic liberalization in the country in 1991. One of these was a major securities scam of over Rupees 35 billion (Rupee 1 =  £ 0.0125, approx.) that was uncovered in April 1992 which involved a diversion of funds from the banking system to stock brokers for financing their operations. Bank executives, brokers and even politicians came under the scanner. The stock market had to be shut down for an extended period. Investors and brokers panicked. This led to the first step towards corporate governance in India when the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was created by an act of Parliament to protect the interest of investors in the securities market and to regulate the stock market (Goswami, 2003). In 1998, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), an industry association published Indiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s initial corporate governance code, the implementation of which was voluntary by companies and thus very few companies adopted it. Until 2000, the CII Code was Indiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s only corporate governance guideline. In 1999 the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), constituted a committee to promote and raise the standards of corporate governance in India which was patterned on UKà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s 1992 Cadbury Report. On the recommendations of this committee, a new clause 49 was incorporated in the Stock Exchange Listing Agreements (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Listing Agreementsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?). Since 2001, the CII Code has been supplemented by Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement (SEBI, 2003). These corporate governance requirements are applicable to all listed companies in India (Government of India, 2009 and SEBI, 2009). Aims, Objectives and Research Questions The aim of the research is to develop an understanding of the practices of corporate governance in developing economies by investigating the disclosure practices of Indian listed companies. This study will cover 50 companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) which comprise the NIFTY which is the benchmark index of the NSE. SP CNX Nifty is a well diversified index comprised of 50 stocks across 23 sectors of the economy. The objectives of this study are: To develop an understanding of the importance of corporate governance and transparency and disclosure using literature review; To examine Practices of corporate governance of listed Indian companies using content analysis by studying annual reports of the companies and allocating disclosure scores. The study addresses the following research question: RQ1. How far are Indian listed companies transparent and how much do they disclose? Structure of the project The rest of the research is organized as follows. Chapter 2 provides a review of the relevant literature followed by research design and methodology in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 presents the findings and discussion. The study ends with chapter 5, conclusion which outlines the main points and findings of this study together with limitations and also raises future research questions. Chapter 2: Literature Review Introduction In the sections that follow, the existing literature on corporate governance and disclosure is reviewed. This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part discusses the importance of corporate governance; the second part presents the agency theory. The third part provides a discussion of the importance of disclosure and transparency and its relation with corporate governance. Corporate Governance is an issue of growing importance in developing countries. The Cadbury Report (1992) defines corporate governance as the system by which businesses are directed and controlled. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Corporate governance involves a set of relationships between a companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s management, its board, its shareholders and other stakeholders. Corporate governance also provides the structure through which the objectives of the company are set, and the means of attaining those objectives and monitoring performance are determined.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? -The preamble of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Principles, 2004 (OECD) Though there have been several studies on corporate governance in developed countries, very little work has been done on developing countries. Most studies have been limited to specific countries. Developing countries encounter a lot of problems such as less developed and illiquid capital markets, economic uncertainties, and weak legal controls and investor protection (Rabelo and Vasconcelos, 2002). Due to these reasons, effective corporate governance in these countries is essential (Tsamenyi, Enniful-Adu and Onumah, 2007). Importance of Corporate Governance Good corporate governance in companies and also across the whole economy helps in providing a level of assurance necessary for the appropriate performance of a market (OECD, 2004). If the governance is weak, equity markets will be thin and thus there will be slower economic growth. On the other hand, in countries where corporate governance systems are strong (like stronger accounting standards), better investment and growth performance can be achieved (Gugler, et al., 2003). Institutions when making investment decisions, give a lot of importance to the fact as to whether the companies follow the basics of corporate governance. Thus if countries wish to attract capital for a long time, they must follow the globally accepted governance principles. Good governance also helps increase the confidence of investors within the country and thus helps reduce the cost of capital (OECD, 2004; La Porta et al, 1998; Bopkin Isshaq, 2009). Foreign investors refrain from investing in developing countries because of weaker governance mechanisms in these countries (Mangena Tauringana, 2007). Thus, companies needing external financing in the future should start adopting better governance measures in the present (Klapper et al, 2004). Many authors support the view that for the development of capital markets, effective governance mechanisms are very crucial (Rabelo Vasconcelos, 2002; Levine Zervos, 1998; Rajan Zingales, 1998). Capital markets can function efficiently if there is effective flow of information between the company and its stakeholders (Akhtaruddin, 2005). Agency Theory Many theories such as stakeholder theory, agency theory among others, express the importance of transparency and disclosure. This paper uses the agency theory as a theoretical framework and models that effective corporate governance practices including transparency and disclosure help resolve agency problems à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" such as extraction of personal gain by majority shareholders and under or over-investment (Aksu and Kosedag, 2006). Agency theory models the relationship between the principal and the agent (Barako, Hancock and Izan, 2006). Agency relationship is a contract under which one or more persons (the principal) engage another (agent) to perform some work on their behalf. Thus the shareholders (the principal) delegate the decision making function to the manager (or the agent) (Jensen and Meckling, 1976). This separation of ownership and control leads to the incurring of certain costs also known as agency costs (viz. expenses incurred by the principal to monitor agentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s activities) which are not incurred if the owner and manager are the same person (Barako, Hancock and Izan, 2006). In an agency relationship, managers have an information advantage which they may misuse for their own personal interest. Conversely it may so happen that agents may disclose more information to enhance the value of the firm and to increase the flow of investment in the company by reducing the cost of the agency relationship (Barako, Hancock and Izan, 2006). Patel et al. (2002) opine that the agency problem in corporate governance can be resolved in many ways à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" by a vigilant board of directors, by timely, accurate and sufficient disclosure of financial information and by transparency in the ownership structure. This study deals with one aspect, viz. disclosure and transparency. Disclosure and Transparency Transparency and disclosure are at the heart of corporate governance. The OECD Principles of corporate governance (2004) state that the corporate governance structure of any association should make sure that well-timed and precise disclosure of all important matters of the organization pertaining to its performance, ownership and overall governance is made. Transparency and disclosure (TD) practices followed by firms are an important component and one of the main indicators of the quality of corporate governance (Aksu and Kosedag, 2006). Companies mainly disclose through their annual reports; thus these should contain information that will allow its users to make correct decisions on efficient use of scarce resources (Akhtaruddin, 2005). In fact, a lot of what a company discloses in its annual reports and financial statements reflect its corporate governance quality (Bokpin and Isshaq, 2009). A firm if makes correct and adequate disclosure, reduces information asymmetry thereby reducing investorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s risk (Bushman and Smith, 2001). Similarly, Lang and Lundholm (1996) view, that by removing asymmetry in information, disclosure and transparency reduce the level of surprises relating to a firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s performance thereby making its stocks less volatile. Chapter 3: Research Methodology With the aim of examining the disclosure practices of Indian listed companies, the focus of this study is the examination of annual reports of listed Indian companies using content analysis. This chapter is divided into two parts. The first deals with research design which is content analysis for this research. The second part presents the method of collection and data analysis. Research Design Research design embodies a structure which directs the implementation of a research method and the data analysis (Bryman and Bell, 2007). It tries to describe the best way to design the research so that the best data for the research can be obtained (Lee and Lings, 1975). The research designs that may be employed include experiment, survey, case study, action research, grounded theory, ethnography, archival research, content analysis among others (Saunders, Lewis Thornhill, 2009). The aim of this research is to examine the disclosure practices of listed Indian companies. Annual reports are intended to disclose information about the companys activities and performance to shareholders and other stakeholders. In order to examine the level of disclosure, in lines with previous research, this study seeks to identify the presence or absence (disclosure or non disclosure) of certain identified corporate attributes in the annual reports of the companies. An examination of annual reports of companies could be one of the justifiable ways of assessing their disclosure practices; consequently, the research design used is one of content analysis. Content analysis is an analysis of documents and texts (which may be printed or visual) that seeks to quantify content in terms of pre-determined categories and in a systematic and objective manner. Objectivity ensures that there is transparency in the procedures for assigning the data to categories so that analystà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s personal biases are ruled out to a large extent (Bryman and Bell, 2007). This study entails analysis of annual reports of listed Indian companies by quantifying content in terms of pre defined categories. Content analysis has been conducted on annual reports by a number of researchers such as Tsamenyi et al. (2007) and Patel et al. (2002) among others, as they are a good instrument to measure comparative positions and trends in reporting. As a technique for collecting data, it involves codifying qualitative and quantitative information into pre-defined categories in order to derive patterns in the presentation and reporting of information (Guthrie et al., 2004). The following paragraphs explain the method of collection of data, its quantification and classification and its analysis. This study uses the method of content analysis which itself is not free from limitations. The major limitation is the subjectivity involved in coding (Frost and Wilmshurst, 2000). In order for valid inferences to be drawn from content analysis, the reliability of both the data and the instrument of collecting and coding the data must be achieved (Milne and Adler, 1999). This research uses the coding method used by many previous researchers such as Patel et al. (2002) and Tsamenyi et al. (2007) and hence can be regarded as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"reliableà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. Data Collection and Analysis This study entails the examination of annual reports of Indian companies. Data is collected on 50 companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and representing the NIFTY, which is literally the barometer of the Indian Capital Market. The sample thus consists of 50 companies listed on the NSE. The SP CNX Nifty is the National Stock Exchange of India Ltdà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s main exchange. The CNX Nifty tracks the performance of a portfolio of blue chip companies, which are the largest and most liquid of the Indian securities. It consists of 50 of about 935 companies listed on the NSE consisting approximately of 60% of the market capitalization and reflects correctly the Indian stock market. The SP CNX Nifty consists of 22 sectors of the Indian economy (Standard Poorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, 2010). This research studies the annual reports of these 50 companies. Analysis is limited to only one year because disclosure practices usually do not change dramatically over time (Botosan, 1997). All annual reports are available online on the respective company websites and have been accessed thus. The annual reports studied for most of the companies are for 31st March 2010. All data has been collected from annual reports of 50 companies which make up to 60% of the total market capitalization. Annual reports are one of the most important devices to convey information and are hence the principle focus of the disclosure index (Alsaeed, 2006). This study uses 98 attributes in all to measure corporate governance and extent of disclosure in India (Appendix 2). These attributes have been compiled by Standard Poorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s and used in many previous studies on disclosure. Using an objective methodology, annual reports are analyzed for common disclosure items grouped into three sub- categories: Ownership structure and investor relations Financial transparency and information disclosure Board and management structure and process A Transparency and Disclosure Score is developed for every company from a binary evaluation of the number of items present in their annual reports, i.e. if a company discloses a particular attribute, a score of 1 is awarded and if not a score of 0 is awarded. This paper analyzes the TD score for 50 Indian companies representing the NIFTY. Previous studies on disclosure and corporate governance such as those by Patel et al. (2002) and Tsamenyi et al. (2007) had followed a similar approach. Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion This chapter presents the findings of this study and also compares the same with previous studies. A disclosure index has been constructed based on a thorough and rigorous examination of the annual reports of the sample companies. Disclosure is defined as the appearance of an item of information in the annual reports of the companies under study (Karim and Ahmed, 2005). If an item is disclosed in the annual report, a score of 1 has been awarded and if the item is not disclosed, then a score of 0 is awarded for that attribute. Thus this disclosure method measures the overall disclosure index (ODI) of a company as additive as follows: Where, d=1 if the item di is disclosed d=0 if the item di is not disclosed n=number of items 4.1 Disclosure Scores and Descriptive Statistics The disclosure scores for each firm are presented both as actual scores and as percentage of the total number of attributes assessed in annual reports. The overall level of disclosure and disclosure score together with the percentage is presented in Table 1 below. Overall, disclosure and transparency register an average score of 72.04 which is quite good. Considerable variation can be noticed in the disclosure practices among the sample companies in India with a range of 54-82. The descriptive statistics are presented in Table 2. Table 1: Disclosure Scores Company Names Disclosure Scores % of Score ACC Ltd. 80 80% Ambuja Cements Ltd. 56 56% Axis Bank Ltd. 76 76% Bajaj Auto Ltd. 75 75% Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. 68 68% Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. 69 69% Bharti Airtel Ltd. 78 78% Cairn India Ltd 73 73% Cipla Ltd. 72 72% DLF Ltd. 73 73% Dr Reddyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Ltd. 75 75% Gail India Ltd. 76 76% HCL Technologies Ltd. 54 54% HDFC Bank Ltd. 71 71% Hero Honda Motors Ltd. 74 74% Hindalco Industries Ltd. 54 54% Hindustan Unilever Ltd. 70 70% Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd 72 72% ICICI Bank Ltd. 77 77% ITC Ltd 78 78% Infosys Technologies Ltd. 82 82% Infrastructure Development Finance Co. Ltd 81 81% Jaiprakash Associates Ltd. 76 76% Jindal Steel Power Ltd 75 75% Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. 75 75% Larsen Toubro Ltd. 74 74% Mahindra Mahindra Ltd. 65 65% Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. 64 64% NTPC Ltd. 62 62% ONGC Ltd. 65 65% Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. 65 65% Punjab National Bank 65 65% Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd 54 54% Reliance Capital Ltd. 75 75% Reliance Communications Ltd. 81 81% Reliance Industries Ltd. 82 82% Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. 76 76% Reliance Power Ltd 77 77% Sesa Goa Ltd 75 75% Siemens Ltd 74 74% State Bank of India 74 74% Steel Authority of India Ltd 75 75% Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. 62 62% Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. 63 63% Suzlon Energy Ltd 75 75% Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. 76 76% Tata Motors Ltd. 75 75% Tata Power Ltd. 80 80% Tata Steel Ltd. 81 81% Wipro Ltd. 77 77% . Table 2: Descriptive Statistics of Dependent and Independent Variables Mean Range No. of firms Overall Disclosure Index 72.04 54-82 50 Chapter 5: Conclusion This paper reports on the level of disclosure of a sample of Indian companies listed on the NSE by examining their annual reports. The study uses a transparency and disclosure (TD) index for determining the level of disclosure among listed Indian companies. The index is developed by assigning scores to 50 companies on pre-determined attributes; the study uses the binary scoring method. Using a dataset relating to listed companies for 2009-10, the study reveals that firms on average report 72% of the items compiled by SP to assess level of disclosure. The results of this study can be useful for investors to help them in gauging the level of disclosure by listed Indian companies. It will also be of interest to researchers, managers, regulators and market participants. The findings of this study must be interpreted in the light of the following limitations. Firstly, the sample used for this study is small in size and is composed of the largest and most followed companies on the National Stock Exchange and thus may not be representative of the population of Indian companies. Secondly, the index used to find the level of disclosure, is that which has been compiled by SP. No distinction has been made between compulsory and voluntary items of disclosure. Also, this study uses the unweighted or binary approach to measure the level of disclosure. Thus, if a company disclosed an item voluntarily, it did not get any extra score for that. Finally, the study gives at best a broad overview of the level and quality of disclosure among Indian companies since the results are based on the data of one year only and lacks longitudinal analysis. Further research is needed to evaluate the trends in the disclosure and also to assess if the level or quality of disclosu re has improved over time. Even with these limitations, there are some important contributions that this study makes. This study reports that the level of disclosure among Indian listed companies is quite high.

The War Of Every Man - 1798 Words

George Monbiot (1963) is an investigative journalist, ecologist and book Authors, he is also known for being a columnist for The Guardian, in which the text studied first appeared in October, 2014. Monbiot declares that we are living in the Age of loneliness. We were social creatures from the start as he describes us as mammal bees that works together and depend entirely on each other. On the other hand, huge change appeared in our way of living. The age we are entering, in which we exist apart, is unlike any that has passed before. Loneliness has become an epidemic among young adults and spared out in elders’ everyday life where social isolation has become a cause of early death because we cannot cope alone. Our times have faced many structural transformations, mainly we developed a life denying ideology which enforces and celebrates our social isolation. The war of every man against every man is translated to a competition and an individualism that are the main religions of our time. Therefore, wealth and fame became the sole ambitions of our generation. We no more talk about people, we rather call them individuals. We have also changed our language to reflect our loneliness, as the most common insult is â€Å"Loser†. Our conversations are mainly being personal in order to distinguish our self from the common mass. Loneliness gained a level in which people turn their televisions for consolation, helping them drive their competitive aspiration. However, as national incomesShow MoreRelatedThomas Hobbesstate Of War Argument For Human Nature996 Words   |  4 PagesPhilosophy of Law Paper 1, 9/27/17 Thomas Hobbes’ State of War Argument for Human Nature Erin McFarland In Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, Hobbes addresses the nature of man and society and their relation to each other. 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Difference between dogs and cats Free Essays

Every animal has its own characteristics and features. Generally speaking, each animal is adapted for existence in a certain environment and may be unable to survive or reproduce in other environments. Environment includes such factors as temperature; light; moisture; atmospheric and water pressure; and gas and mineral content of air, water, and soil. We will write a custom essay sample on Difference between dogs and cats or any similar topic only for you Order Now The various factors of the environment in which any particular animal lives may not remain constant at all times. Most animals are adapted to withstand certain environmental variations. This paper scrutinizes the difference and similarities between the cats and dogs. Cats are meat-eating animals. The cat family includes not only the domestic cat, but also the tiger, lion, leopard, lynx, bobcat, and many others. Wild cats are dangerous predators, but domestic cat is a pet and companion and is valuable as a means of controlling rats, mice, and other rodents. The young of most wild cats are called cubs; the young of domestic cats are kittens. All cats, from lion to housecat, are adapted for hunting. The head is large and broad, with powerful jaws and sharp, slashing teeth. Long whiskers on the sides of the face are believed to aid the cat in feeling its way through narrow places. The eye has a vertical pupil that closes to a narrow slit in bright sunlight and opens wide in dim light, maintaining the keen vision so necessary to a hunter. A cat, like a dog, is largely color-blind. Its sense of smell and hearing are very well-developed. The cat has a lithe body, with a loose skin. There are five toes on the front feet and four on the hind. The feet are padded for silent motion. Except for the cheetah, which has feet that look much like a dog’s, all cats have claws that can be drawn backward and upward into protective sheaths. Some cats are good swimmers, but most avoid water. The traditional belief in the â€Å"nine lives† of the cat can be traced to the animal’s cleverness in getting out of trouble, and to its vigor and strong hold on life. Cats can live for several days without food, and recover from injuries that would kill most other animal . Kittens should be fed crumbled bits of cereal in milk, finely chopped cooked meat, or canned baby food four or five times a day. Gradually the number of feedings is reduced, but the amount increased until at 9 to 12 months the cat is receiving an adult diet. Adult cats do best on two meals a day. Suitable foods include ground lean meat, cooked, non-oily fish, canned cat food, or dry cat food. Fresh clean water should also be provided. Cats not intended for breeding purposes should be kept indoors, it should be provided with a sanitary tray. New kittens should be confined to the tray area until they begin to use it. Most cats over thee months of age use the tray readily. A fixed, padded post for the cat to scratch on will help to keep it from scratching on furniture. On the other hand, the dog is a carnivorous mammal that was domesticated by humans thousands of years ago. It serves in a variety of ways—as a companion, hunter, herder, and protector, and as a draft animal. For the blind, dog serves as guides. In some places, dog racing is a popular sport. Because of its loyalty, obedience, courage, and friendliness, the dog is often referred to as â€Å"an’ best friend. † Dogs have held a prominent place in mythology and literature. Dogs are mentioned in the Bible and in such historic works as The odyssey. The domestic dog is Canis familiaris of the family Vanidae, which also includes the coyote, jackal, and wolf. Domestic dogs retain some wild instincts. This explains why some dogs chase moving objects, scavenge for food, and turn around several times before lying down, as their ancestors did to trample down high grass for a bed. Domestic dog often sleep curled up with their tails over their faces, just as wild dogs do to protect their faces from the elements. Domestic dogs, like wild dogs, eat quickly and are protective of their food. Dogs have very acute senses. The most highly developed are hearing, smell, and sight. Dogs can hear sounds at high frequencies, higher than the upper limit of human hearing. The sense of smell is the most important sense to a dog. Dogs can locate particular scents, follow them when reencountered. Taste buds on the tongue help the dog distinguish sweet, sour, salty, and bitter tastes. Dogs see in black and white. They have a relatively wide field of vision but a limited capacity to judge distances. A third eyelid, called the nictating membrane, is hidden behind the lower eyelid. A dog can feel pain, pressure, cold and heat. Certain hairs on the body are especially sensitive organs of touch. In addition, dogs communicate by a variety of means. The sounds they make, such as barking, growling, and whining, can indicate a number of things, including aggression, excitement, fear, and submission. Puppies are active and need three meals a day until the age of six months, when they need to two meals a day. A puppy needs a balanced diet containing protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. A diet of cooked meat, eggs, milk, and cottage cheese, or commercial puppy food provides necessary nutrients and calories for a growing puppy. By the age of one year, a dog needs food only dog food or a diet of meat, eggs, and cheese. Water should be provided with meals and after exercise. Since many dogs develop tartar, a thick deposit of bacteria and food particles on the teeth, knuckle bones or commercial dog biscuits are recommended to help break down the deposits. It is believed that cats were first domesticated in northern Africa. Egyptian carvings made more than 4, 500 years ago depict cats as domestic animals. The cat was a sacred animal in Egypt, associated with the goddess Pasht, or Bast. Many mummies of Ehyptian cats have been found. On the other hand, dogs are descended from Miacis, a small carnivorous mammal that lived in North America over 60,000,000 years ago. Miacis was a civet-like mammal that had a long body and tail, short legs, and large teeth for tearing and chewing meat. In conclusion, cats and dogs have a common ancestor in small, extinct meat-eating animals called Miacindae, which lived about 40,000,000 years ago. Cats have seen to have developed rather suddenly from the civet branch of the carnivore group of animals. Both cats and dogs are helpful to man. Although they have different characteristics yet these animals show similarities of some ways in food and its physical features. How to cite Difference between dogs and cats, Papers

Process Innovation Implementing Converged Security

Question: Discuss about the Process Innovation for Implementing Converged Security. Answer: Introduction: The present report analyses the security aspect of information in Premier Ambulance Services Sdn Bhd, which is mainly oriented towards the practice of preventing unauthorised access, usage, modification, or disclosure of information. According to a report by Gullander et al. (2014), these aspects are critical in cases, when the concerned action related to information breach results into the risk to the organisation which in turn is linked with reduced functionality, harm the market reputation and damage the competitiveness. The company considered for discussion works in the healthcare sector and the business association is mediated between customers (patient community), healthcare settings, and transport/automotive related stakeholders. Identify and describe the organisations physical, human, and electronic information holdings that may be at risk. The fundamental aspect in this regard is linked with human resources in which strategic management department, staffing structure, policies and guidelines, as well as employee relation structures and agreements are crucial. The information holding in this regard include the following elements (Davenport, 2013): Strategy and management division This part of the organisation is responsible for the delivery of personnel-related information, in which the key responsibility area for which the information is vital, includes recruitment, promotion, pay or incentive details, disciplinary actions, special leave, and absenteeism of their employees. Staffing structure - The information aspect in this consideration include the details of policy and guidance materials for the ambulatory staff, such as attendance management, the conduct of actions and procedures, diversity management and organisational culture, leaving, pay and benefits of employees as per the national and corporate guidelines, and performance criteria. The policies, procedures, and guidelines related to human resources The information content in this section mainly holds the conditions of service. For example, the application recruitment laws like civil services, equal pay scale, gender non-discrimination, driving license, and adjuvant technical qualifications such as pharmacy, nursing, and social worker. Similarly, for the performance management aspect, the day-to-day functionality, challenges, negotiation, and delegation are included. Other than this, it also includes information such as pension policies, provident funds, and grievance. Employee relations and agreements The management and trade union within this scope are committed towards the conduct of their industrial and employee relations businesses. The bargaining purpose related information which is holding risk include (i) the public and commercial services; (ii) prospect for future of employees; and (ii) first division association (FDA). Likewise, another important aspect includes information related to physical resources such as ambulatory vehicles and property assets, property holdings, estate development plans, maintenance arrangement of vehicles. Notably, the associated stakeholders, vendor for temporary vehicles, and contract drivers are of high importance, for which the information security is essential (Mubarak Alharbi, Zyngier Hodkinson, 2013). Lastly, electronic resources include record management policy which also includes record retention schedule. The information mainly includes audit reports, annual reports, and other details of the accounting. In addition to this, it also includes the consideration of file and folder system at the workplace such that employee should utilise the resources only for the organisational purpose, no personal work must be executed using the firm information, and all the information sharing must be executed among authorised or concerned professionals only (Mubarak Alharbi, Zyngier Hodkinson, 2013). The mentioned provision of information and association is requisite for computer professional and not for the drivers or field-workers. Identify and describe the actual and potential physical, human, and electronic threats to the organisations information holdings. The major threats to the above-mentioned organisation aspect are all linked towards rational usage of data, preserving information for biased usage, and sharing among the authorised professionals only for concerned activities. Importantly, it is also ascertained with the information holdings that they will be used only for the organisational purpose, especially during work execution. Hence, any form of use that can cause harm to the firm is considered to be a breach. The components crucial in this regard include following aspects (Narasimhan Aundhe, 2014): Confidentiality Prevention of unauthorised disclosure of information related to customers, which can be deleterious in the case of sensitive information and may result in financial or market image loss for the firm. Integrity The prevention of erroneous editing or modification within the information is also critical, as storing incorrect data, corrupting the information, or making errors and omission of details may result in loss of functionality for the ambulatory services. Availability - This is linked with prevention of unauthorised withholding of information. As in many cases, personnel withholding or disclosure of information to public domain may result in loss or discontinuity for the firm. Authenticity - This is the procedure of verifying the users and providing a genuine logging detail to the employee, ensure optimal usage of information. This will not only hold the sensitive information from being biased but will also be helpful in tracking the information user for a particular task or according to time.Design a security plan that describes counter-measures that will manage the threats that put the organisations information holdings at risk. For the assess-related threat, the counter-measures include strong authentication and protection of authentication cookies using SSL (secure sockets layer). For exploiting and penetration related threat to information, using data hashing and signing are adequate methods. This also includes secure communication links with the product to offer message integrity. Other than this, the use of strong encryption is also effective to avoid any unauthorised editing or modification of information (Abawajy, 2014). Note that the mentioned security aspect is critical for the recording, documentation, and online processing of information by the company associates and customers. Other than this, the privilege related threats can be managed with counter-measures such as using hint question and verifying the answers from users; using the date of birth or other date-related information for authorization. The same system is also applicable to customers, as they can manage their information, through online means. In advanced systems, the use of retinal scans, fingerprints, and facial recognition are effective, but is not applicable for this company, due to existing infrastructures and resources. Note that these mentioned countermeasures are effective in conjunction with physical and human-related information (Aleem, Wakefield Button, 2013). The computer resources are requisite to be managed with SQL, SSL, and key or one-time-password linked with phone numbers or e-mail account is effective. Additionally, in certain sections of the company, paper-based record system is also maintained. The counter-measures to such informational security is possible to manage with the help of authorised entry to record storage room, strict instructions to concerned professional, and restricting the movement of original documents within the storage room only (only photocopies are allowed for sharing). Develop a comprehensive information security education and awareness programme for use by management, staff members and contractors). The information security education program will include following elements (Peltier, 2016; Safa, Von Solms Furnell, 2016): Giving a general overview and rationale behind the security management aspects This will not only include elaboration to the facts but will also include the consequence of the information threat (breach) to the concerned individual as well as to the firm. The discussion of relevant legislation and guidelines are also requisite to be included. Linking phone/e-mail/computer system to the server database Employees mainly staff (temporary and permanent), as well as drivers and contract workers, are requisite to give the inputs following which they will be linked to the organisational server. Hence, any form of authorisation can be collected on that basis. Demonstrating the usage This includes a demo for logging in and out, sharing of information, granting permission, pending request, approval strategy, and level-wise authorisation for information usage. For the paper-based record system, authorised application and channel to pass the information is needed. Lastly, the sustainability of learned terms can be concluded with the help of monitoring and evaluation framework. Necessary technical support is thus requisite in this regard to all the employees. Note that for the management team, the program guidelines include arrangement of facilities for learning, training, and execution of task. Likewise, the evaluation and monitoring terms are also included for management responsibility, such that sustainability can be achieved (Safa, Von Solms Furnell, 2016). References: Abawajy, J. (2014). User preference of cyber security awareness delivery methods.Behaviour Information Technology,33(3), 237-248. Aleem, A., Wakefield, A., Button, M. (2013). Addressing the weakest link: Implementing converged security.Security Journal,26(3), 236-248. Davenport, T. H. (2013).Process innovation: reengineering work through information technology. 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S., Von Solms, R., Furnell, S. (2016). Information security policy compliance model in organizations.computers security,56, 70-82.