Suez Canal Crisis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Suez Canal Crisis - Research Paper Example This canal is not a natural one; it was constructed in 1869 in order to transport goods from Europe and Asia. Earlier the goods transportation between Europe and Africa was extremely difficult since the transportation ships forced to navigate around Africa to reach Europe from Asia. The construction of Suez Canal made the transportation of good between these two regions easier. Suez Canal crisis occurred in 1956 when a war broke out between France, Britain, and Israel against Egypt. The invasion of Egypt by Israel caused problems in the good transportation between Asia and Europe which forced Britain and France to issue a joint ultimatum to the concerning parties; Egypt and Israel. They started to bomb Egypt shortly after the ultimatum given which is believed to be a preplanned attack with the knowledge of Israel. This paper analyses the various dimensions of the Suez Canal crisis developed in 1956 with the help of topic such as the relationships between Israel and Egypt, relationshi ps between Eden and Nasser, the effects of cold war, history of Suez canal etc. Historically, the relationship between Egypt and Israel remains a strained one. Bible has many references for the strained relationships between Israel and Egypt. It is difficult for these two countries to establish strong relationships in future also because of their immense differences in culture and religious beliefs. Jews perceive Arabs as their enemies and their enmity started long time back. Most of the years of the twentieth century, Egypt was ruled by Britain. Egyptians were second class citizens in their home land during the colonial rule of Britain which developed dissatisfaction against the British among the Egyptian public. Violence against the British started to grow in Egypt as a result of their protest against colonial rule. British Prime Minister Antony Eden tried to deal this violence by increasing the number of British troops in Egypt. Nasser responded to Eden’s efforts by formin g a Revolutionary Command Council in Egypt. It was difficult for Britain to bear the huge cost of military operations in Egypt because of the financial problems developed in Britain during this period. The relationship between President Nasser and Prime Minister Antony Eden was not so good during the Suez Canal crisis period. They met each other in 1955 in Cairo in order to rectify the problems between them; however neither of them trusted each other and the strained relationship continued even after the meeting. Eden tried to force Nasser from establishing a strong relationship with the communist Soviet Union. He also urged Nasser to stop anti-British radio broadcasts. However, Eden failed to get a positive response from Nasser on both the issues. â€Å"Even the dinner put on for Nasser at the British Embassy was a failure as Nasser arrived in military uniform to be greeted by Eden in full evening dress†2. Nasser treated Eden’s efforts as a deliberate attempt to humil iate him and whatever the positives derived out of this meeting was destroyed because of this incident. Britain forced to end their colonial rule in Egypt and Egypt became an independent state in 1953 even though British presence continued till 1956. Nasser became the president of Egypt in 1954. The nationalization of Suez Canal was the immediate action taken by Nasser after assuming the president’s post which resulted in the Suez Canal crisis of 1956. History of Suez Canal As mentioned earlier, Suez Canal was

Legalization of marijuana Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Legalization of marijuana - Essay Example Despite the whole debate surrounding support for legalizing it, criticism over the effects or consequences emanating from its use has also been critical in the decision making process. In this regard, the decision of whether to legalize marijuana or not highly depends on the measure of whether there are more advantages or disadvantages of legalizing it. Earleywine (67) argued that although marijuana has medicinal value attached to it, many things have to be put into consideration when making the decision of whether to legalize it or not. Political, social economic and health issues are some of the facets to be considered when making the decision. In light of this, there are different tenets that have to be articulated upon to come up with sound decision. If marijuana is to be legalized, it translates to economic advantage to people that will be farming and retailing it. This is a great accomplishment as it translates to improved lives of the people to be involved in the business. In fact, the government will also have the opportunity of generating revenue from the tax collected from the marijuana business. People involved in the marijuana business will be better placed in taking care of their basic needs and other requirements such as their health, education as well as different development initiatives. In addition, if marijuana will be successfully legalized, the health sector will have a boost in terms of getting medicinal value from marijuana. In fact, health facilities will economically benefit from the drug especially from the money obtained from the sale of prescription marijuana. If marijuana is legalized, there will be a need to conduct extensive medicinal research to come up with appropriate prescription drugs from marijuana. Thus, many people involved in the research will equally benefit since this will act as a form of employment to them. On the other hand, people

Economics Essays Financial System Banking

Economics Essays Financial System Banking Capital Adequacy Directive Abstract In the recent years, it seems that the supervisors have increased the attention on the capital adequacy of banking intuitions in order to enhance and maintain the stability of financial system. The purpose of the present paper is to investigate into the merits as well as disadvantages of the Capital Adequacy Directive implementation in the Switzerland economy for the behaviors of Swiss banks and shed some light on whether and how Swiss bank react to constraints placed by the regulator on their capital. The analysis and evidences given will clarify the finding is that while the Swiss banks enjoy the typical merits that have been brought by this innovation, some drawbacks they might endure could not be neglected, which implies the need for good policy guidelines of Government and Central Bank. Chapter 1 Introduction We do realize there are better moments to introduce substantial increases in capital requirements. Nout Wellink (April, 2008), head of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision During the last 30 years, a wide range of countries have introduced the formalized capital requirement. This innovation seemed to be spearheaded by the adoption of minimum capital requirement in some particular states (for instance, the US and the UK in 1981). However, with the first introduction of Basel Accord in 1998, the common minimum capital requirements were actually adopted by G-10. To date, the Accord has been implemented by over 100 countries world-wide (Allen, 2004). The implementation process of Capital Adequacy Directive (CAD) on the one hand produced many successes in practice as it helps to limit risk-taking relative to capital and to prevent systemic instabilities arising from large-scale banking failures, thereby enhancing the productivity, efficiency, safety and soundness of domestic banking system, in general, global financial system. On the other hand, it also has generated several important failures and unintended consequences as it might reduce the lending ability of commercial banks which in turn directly influences to their competitiveness relative to other forms of intermediation. This study attempts to measure the cost and benefits of Capital Adequacy Directive and apply it to the population of commercial banks that operated in Switzerland. The result suggests that even though some negative impacts of CAD is obviously seen, the implementation of CAD in Swiss banking system is essentially and truly needed. As the matter of fact, the advantages that Swiss commercial banks have achieved due to the effectiveness of capital adequacy regulation outweigh the disadvantages they might suffer. The paper is divided into 4 sections. Chapter 2 introduces the historical review and general theory of Capital Adequacy Directive. Chapter 3 provides firstly the analysis on the both benefits and costs of CAD, followed by the statistic evidences from Swiss commercial banks’ behaviors. Finally, the summary of the main findings of this study and conclusion will be mentioned in the last section. Chapter 2 Capital Adequacy Directive: Historical Review and General Theory 2.1 Historical review The Capital Adequacy Directive was firstly and officially introduced as the core part of the 1998 Accord, referred to as Basel Accord (International Convergence of Capital Measurements and Capital Standards) issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (henceforward Basel Committee) in July 1998 (Hall, 2004). This accord is not formal treaty nor a binding legal rule, however due to the practical effects conveyed with it, the guidelines of this accord have been implemented not only by signatory countries at the beginning but also by over 100 countries world-wide (Lastra, 2004). Nevertheless, the 1988 Accord has been criticized for its crude assessment of risk and for creating opportunities for regulatory arbitrage (Blum and Hellwig, 1996). Therefore, at the end of June 2004, the â€Å"New Capital Accord† (henceforth call Basel II) was finally issued after the endorsement conducted by G10 banks supervisor in order to replace the original accord (now termed â€Å"Basel I† agreed in 1988) and solve the problems occurred as the result of Basel I implementation in banking system. 2.2 General Theory of Capital Adequacy Directive The genesis of Capital Adequacy Directive as well as the capital regulation could be traced back to the concern that bank might hold less capital than is socially optimal â€Å"relative to its riskiness as negative externalities resulting from bank default are not reflected in market capital requirements† (Rime, 2001). In the 1988 Accord, the Basel Committee provided a ratio of capital to risk-weighted assets. In this Basel formula, Capital is divided into Tier 1 (equity capital plus disclosed reserves minus goodwill) and Tier 2 (revaluation reserves, undisclosed reserve, general loan loss reserves, and subordinated term debt). Specifically, Tier 1 capital must to constitute at least 50% of the total capital base. In addition, the denominator of this Basel formula is the sum of risk-adjusted assets plus off-balance sheet items adjusted to risk. (Lastra, 2004) According to (BIS, 2008) the 1998 Accord in essence prescribed that banks hold capital of at least 8 % of their risk-weighted assets. Although there is no strong argument for the â€Å"target† ratio 8%, it still was considered to be â€Å"sufficient† due to the empirical application from previous policy applied in some states such as the US/UK bilateral agreement of 1986 regarding capital adequacy (Rime, 2005). Eight percent were the median in exiting good practice at that time: the US as well as the UK around 7.5 %, Switzerland 10%, France and Japan 3 % (Lastra, 2004). In fact, data from a wide range of banks from the Fitch IBCA database and national supervisors as well as the Basle Committee denote increasing trend with the average capital ratio rising from 9.3% in 1988 to 11.2% in 1996. â€Å"Most countries experienced increases in their capital ratios although those countries, which were close to, or below, the Basle minimum capital adequacy ratio of 8% in 1988 evidenced a much higher overall increase than those, which had historically high capital ratios†. (Jackson, 1999) Recently, in the new approach, often referred to as Basel II, specifically in the First Pillar ─ Minimum Capital Requirements, the overall level of regulatory capital currently held by banks is not set to rise or to be lower. The capital ratio is calculated using the definition of regulatory capital and risk-weighted assets and the total capital ratio must be no lower than 8%. In addition, the tier 2 capital is limited to 100% of Tier 1 capital (BIS, 2004). However, it is set to be more risk sensitive (Blum and Bichsel, 2004). Chapter 3 Costs and Benefits of Capital Adequacy Requirements: The Analysis for Switzerland 3.1 Understanding the Swiss banking system: To date, the Swiss banking system is typically depicted as one of the leading universal banking system around the world since this type â€Å"universal banking† was firstly allowed at the Banking Law of 1930 (Stiroh and Rime, 2003). In reality, like the most continental European countries, Swiss bank legislation does not distinguish between the commercial and investment banks. In principle, Swiss banks are able to offer a wide range of financial services such as: lending and deposit-taking, underwriting, brokerage, trading and portfolio management (Swiss Bankers Association, 2006). Furthermore, the Swiss banks might vary in the way they use their options to engage in all types of financial activities as the â€Å"truly universal banks co-exist with the institution specializing either in traditional banking or financial market activities†. According to Swiss Bankers Association (2006) the Swiss National Bank (SNB) classifies the banks in Switzerland into ten major categories: big banks, cantonal banks, regional and savings banks, Raiffeisenkassen banks, commercial banks, consumer loan banks, stock exchange banks, other banks, foreign, and private bank. These bank categories differ with regard to their size, business focus, geographic scope of activities and legal form. Within the banking sector, the big banks maintain a dominant position in every respect. As the matter of fact, the Swiss economy is characterised by a comparatively large banking sector by international standards, and by the dominance of two banks, Credit Suisse and UBS. At the end of 2006, the banking sector’s total assets exceeded CHF 4,500 billion or nearly ten times the size of Swiss GDP. This is by far the biggest ratio among the G10 countries, followed by Belgium and the Netherlands where total bank assets are five times the size of GDP. Measured in absolute terms, the US has the largest banking sector. However, total assets of all banks are less than US GDP (Swiss National Bank, 2007) 3.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Capital Adequacy Directive towards Swiss banks’ behaviour In this paper’s context, instead of taking assessing advantages as well as disadvantages of CAD for all the participants of financial market, I would like to take the point of view to this issue from the one particular party of market – the banks. Merits Almost all financial experts hold the opinion that though capital generally accounts for a small percentage of the financial resources of banking institution; it plays a crucial and important role in their long-term financing and solvency position, which directly influence to their public credibility and reputation. The inverse relationship between the capital adequacy requirement and bank risk taking has been found in the research of Avery and Berger in 1991. In order to meet the 8% target ratio of Basel formula, banks have not been encouraged and limited to take the high risky activities, which always promises the high payoffs, thereby reducing the likelihood of failures. In addition, it is undeniable that the implementation of Capital Adequacy Directive leads to the more powerful ability of banks at the event of financial crisis as the more reasonable the capital ratio is set up, the higher the probability that a bank will not fail to pay back its debts. This fact tends to justify the existence of capital adequacy regulation in order to avoid bankruptcies and negative externalities on the financial system. In other words, it could be said that Capital Adequacy Directive is needed to maintain and enhance the financial stability of banks, generally, for economics. In the case of Swiss banking system, Switzerland welcomes that the Capital Adequacy Directive has been adopted as an important means to preserve the financial soundness of the Bank and its triple A rating. According to Swiss Banker Association (2008) the Swiss banks are well capitalized by international standards and as an additional safety measure, Swiss law demands capital adequacy standards even higher than those required by the Basel Accord. Swiss banks can therefore certainly be counted amongst the safest in the world. The following table will display the marked-rise in risk-weighted in all bank categories in Switzerland at the year-end of 2006 As been shown from the graph, in 2006, the risk-weighted capital ratios rose in all bank types as it increased from the 13.1 % to 13.9 % in terms of the entire banking sector (exceeded the G-10 countries’ average by more than 2.5% point at the same time). This increase was particularly pronounced at the big banks (from 11.5% in 2005 to 12.4% in 2006). Specifically, let take UBS – one of two largest banks in Switzerland as a typical example for the benefits of Capital Adequacy Directive in order to maintain the financial stability. The capital that UBS is required to hold based on Swiss Federal Banking Commission (SFBC) regulations, which differ in some certain respects from the calculation under the Basel Capital Accord (BIS guidelines). As a result of the differences in regulatory rules, UBS’s risk-weighted assets are higher, and its ratios of total capital and Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets, are lower, when calculated under the SFBC regulations than under BIS guidelines. However, UBS has always had total capital and Tier 1 capital well in excess of the minimum requirements of both the BIS and the SFBC. Capital adequacy The success of USB in doing business as well as maintaining financial stability has been measured and confirmed by the largest and most famous credit rating agency such as Fitch Ratings, Standard Poor’s and Moody’s. In February 2006, the rating agency Standard Poor’s affirmed UBS’s AA+ long-term and A-1 + short-term ratings and commented: â€Å"The key strengths of USB business profile are the strong cash flow, high returns, and the sound capital base.† In which, the last one has been brought by the presence of successful implementation of Capital Adequacy Directive. Not surprisingly, to date, the capital base of the Swiss banking sector appears to be sound as all banks reported excess capital at the end of 2006 ( Swiss National Bank, 2007) To sum up, the Capital Adequacy Directive framework is truly needed for Swiss banks in order to avoid bankruptcies and negative externalities on the financial system, enhancing and maintaining the financial stability. Disadvantages Despite what has been shown, nothing could be further from the truth that capital adequacy might affect the banking system’s ability to extend credit. Under the circumstance that the regulatory are set too high, that might leads to the risk-adjusted market return on bank loans will be insufficient so as to cover this artificially high cost of capital, therefore decreasing bank-lending activities. This so-called credit-crunch, which will directly impact not only to the financial stability of banking system but also the aggregate level of economics activities (Allen, 2004). Furthermore, there are various concern have been raised over whether the presence of capital requirement directive undermine the long-run competitiveness of banks. Jackson at the year-end 1999, and Blanco and Barrios in their research at 2003 have shown that these concerns could be separated into two types: (i) Whether banks have been disadvantaged compared with securities markets or securities firms (ii) Whether the overall profitability of banks has been affected and their competitiveness has been harmed According to Jackson (1999), there is a controversial issue that whether banks, due to the capital adequacy regulation have found it difficult to compete against the securities markets as provider of funds. Many countries have witnessed â€Å"a shift from provision of funding to prime corporates by banks to provision of funding by commercial paper markets or securities markets more generally† but it is difficult to assess how much of this shift was driven by the capital requirements of the banks and how much by innovation and greater sophistication of the borrowers. Furthermore, there is no strong theory as well as empirical evidence to conclude from the profound changes in banks’ long-term share of various markets that they have been driven by the influences of capital requirements on banks’ competitiveness. In the case of Swiss banking system, by using the empirical methods and model to evaluate the relationship between the capital adequacy regulation and the share prices of banks as well as using the data come from 4 big banks, 25 cantonal banks and 125 regional banks in existence from 1989 to 1995 which represents 82% of Swiss banking system, Rime (2001) has shown that there is no evidence about capital adequacy requirement implementation reduce the Swiss banks’ share price. Moreover, Wagster revealed the same result at 1996 when he did the research in the situation of Switzerland, Germany, and Netherlands. It is possible that the introduction of minimum regulatory capital requirements may have harmed the competitiveness of the banking industry. If capital standards require a bank to maintain an equity position in excess of what it would hold voluntarily, or in response to market pressure, then these standards constitute an external constraint on a bank’s operations. In theory, any kind of external interference with the activities of a business firm could harm its short-run profitability or growth and possibly undercut its long-run viability (Jackson, 1999). However, it does seem that the exactly answer for this question whether implementation of capital adequacy regulation harms the competitiveness of banks has not been found yet because the long-term competitiveness of banking is driven by a wide range of factors. As been shown in the above part, the implementation of CAD has been conducted successfully in terms of Swiss banking system. That helps banks to enhance the financial stability not only in their own system but also for entire economy. Hence, the Swiss banking system are now depicted as the universal banking system, being classified amongst the safest and highest profit all over the world. Conclusion In this study, we have just investigated into the costs and benefits of Capital Adequacy Directive towards Swiss banks’ behaviors. Our main message is that Capital Adequacy Directive is truly desirable as it provides an extremely efficient financial mechanism for maintaining the financial stability as well as prestige for Swiss banking system. However, despite the typical merits that have been conveyed by Capital Adequacy Directive, some drawbacks it might create such as unexpected credit crunch phenomenon, is obviously seen. This does require the act of Government and Swiss National bank with more caution as the more efficiency CAD present the more benefits that Government and Swiss banks can achieve. Bibliography Allen (2004), The Basel Capital Accords and International Mortgage Markets: A Survey of the Literature. Avery and Berger (1991), Risk-Based Capital and Deposit Insurance Reform, Journal of Banking and Finance BIS (2008) [www.bis.org] [Internet] [Assessed 15 April 15, 2008] Blum (2003), The Impact of Capital Requirements on Banks’ Incentives to Monitor and to Hold Excess Capital, Journal of banking and finance Blum and Hellwig (1996), The macroeconomic implications of capital adequacy requirements for banks, Journal of banking and finance Blum and Bichsel (2004), The relationship between risk and capital in Swiss commercial banks:a panel study, Journal of banking and finance Blanco and Barrios (2003), The effectiveness of bank capital adequacy regulation: A theoretical and empirical approach, Journal of banking and finance G34 International Banking and Finance materials by Prof D.H.Gowland G33 International Banking: Regulation and Supervision materials by Prof D.H.Gowland Hall (2004), Basel II: A panacea or a missed opportunity? , Journal of banking and finance Jackson (1999), Capital requirements and bank behaviors: The impact of Basel Accord, Journal of banking and finance Lastra (2004), Risk-based capital requirements and their impact upon the banking industry: Basel II and CAD III, Journal of banking and finance Quotation database, [Internet] [Assessed 15 April 2008] Rime (2001), Capital requirements and bank behaviors: Empirical evidence for Switzerland, Journal of banking and finance. Rime (2005), Will Basel II Lead to a Specialization of Unsophisticated Banks on High-Risk Borrowers? , Journal of banking and finance Sheldon (2001), Costs and Benefits of Capital Adequacy Requirements: an Empirical Analysis for Switzerland, Journal of banking and finance Stiroh and Rime (2003), The performance of universal banks: Evidence from Switzerland, Journal of banking and finance Swiss National Bank, (2008), [Internet] [Assessed 15 April 2008] Swiss Federal Banking Commission (2005), Basel II Implementation in Switzerland Summary of the explanatory report of the Swiss Federal Banking Commission Swiss Bankers Association (2008), Swiss Bankers Association press release, [Internet] [Assessed 15 April 2008] Wagster (1996), Impact of the 1988 Basle Accord on International Banks, Journal of Finance,

A Simple Proposal Essay -- essays research papers

A SIMPLE PROPOSAL   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Major League Baseball has probably some of the most exciting players in sports today. Players such as Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter make watching baseball fun. But there are some people in Major League Baseball that I have forgotten who display probably more talent than those 3 combined. The people that I am talking about, are the umpires.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  You might be shocked when I say that but believe me, they are great athletes. Can you imagine working in the same conditions they do? To do this, you would need to be able to stand up to managers kicking dirt at you as well as dealing with players arguing at you for calls you have made that should have no controversy over. Working an entire season does wear d...

Demand Elasticity of Luxury Automobiles Essay

1. Introduction â€Å"As long as there is a society, there will always be fashion†. It was not surprised a fashion brands, especially a luxury fashion brands became a national treasure which effect the issues in business, political and social area in European countries. Since the Hermas established in 1837, a special development strategy model has formed and matured in European luxury group. Daniele de winter, the CEO of Daniele de Winter Cosmetics state that â€Å"the secret of successful fashion management is a complete blend of creative genius and business management acumen, skill and resourcefulness†. The develop strategy is the key issue for a successful luxury fashion company. With the development of economy and the increase of income, more and more luxury fashion companies expand their business into Asia- Pacific region, especially the Hong Kong and mainland China market. According to the annual report of Richemont, The Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR), Hemes, Bulberry and other luxury fashion companies, the sale revenue of Asia- Pacific region accounts for more than 30% of the Group total revenue. The Change of Global Luxury Fashion Market The word â€Å"luxury† origin from Latin word â€Å"luxuria†, which means an item that â€Å"is expensive and enjoyable but no essential (Waite, 2012)†. In 186 BCE, the victory of army of Gnaeus Manlius Vulso brought such overseas luxury as bronze couches, and costly cloth spreads into Rome. For some Roman historians, the triumph of Vulso marked as the beginning of luxury industry in Europe. With the development of centres, modern luxury fashion industry has become a cross-sectors industry which offers high price goods and service for target consumers. However, in the space of two decades, the modern luxury market has changed beyond recognition. The narrow range of need and demand of target consumers and the exclusive- distribution channels, represented by French Fashion, have been replaced by a mass industry, accompanied by expansion brands with an affordable price by a wider range of consumers. Since the beginning of 1990s, the luxury industry has been recognised and restructured by designers and the fashion designers become the creator of art. According to the statistics from France Economic and Social Council in 2008 (France Economic and Social Council, 2008), with the strategy of â€Å"physical shop/ store† and expansion brands benefit seven million euros. Depending on the diversion and internationalisation, the luxury industry becomes an industry with wider consumers. For example, Hemes, managed by Jean-Louis Dumas, diversities their goods and creates new products. The French luxury manufacture gets a successful on brand art by purchasing crystal brand Saint Louis and Silversmith Puiforcat. Similarly, Richemont Family, the main competitor of French brand, also control numbers of brands, such as Carites, Baume & Mercier and Van Cleef & Arpells. The second change of luxury industry is the transformation from the handmade custom to industrial standardisation. Taking LVMH as example, there are three cores of product, as wines and spirit, luggage and leather, and fashion and perfume industry. The famous brands in luxury world, like as Moet & Chandon, Loewe, Vuitton, Givenchy, Kenzo, Dior and Guerlain, standardise the products like other heavy industries. Along with the profit-seeking financial logic, the marketing and the product standardisation become the major notion with the concept of large-scale product. In the new centre, the concept of luxury industry and the demand of consumers are changing all the time. â€Å"Heritage and Prestige† is the landmark of lots of luxury brands and the enduring value of numbers of particular brands. Comparing with the old style luxury brand â€Å"which used to be a heritage brand† (Coste-Maniere, et al. , 2012), the new concept of luxury, developed by Louis Vuitton and Burberry, means accepted by more consumers. For the occasional customers, they just enjoy the â€Å"right of luxury† in physical store against with the traditional customer-exclusive. In the new era, increasing the number of customers buy the fashion product they could afford, rather than become the royal consumer due to the high price. Consequently, emphasis of consumer need and the competitive advantage means centralising the core value and expending brand boundary simultaneously. 2. 2 The Development Strategy Model of Luxury Fashion Brand The luxury fashion brand originate in European countries which have plentiful historical and cultural background. With the development of servial centres, the luxury fashion industry in European, American and Japanese have become mature and standarlisation. Under this circumstance, the strategy of luxury development in western countries centralize on the brand expansion, striving for the core products and development of brand reputation. 2. 2. 1 Brand Expansion: the Foundational Strategy Under the press of financial-seeking strategy and the changeable of luxury market, the old style luxury fashion brand faces the challenge of development in the mature market in traditional European, American and Japanese region. Under this circumstance, the expansion of brands has become the foundational strategy for a large number of luxury fashion corporates, which offer a new opportunity to stress the brand image, the most significant assets for a luxury fashion company. (Albrecht, et al. , 2013; Uggla & Lashgari, 2012; Hoffmann & Coste-Maniere, 2012)Many luxury companies breakthrough the traditional product boundary and expensed their business into new market segmentations. For instance, Louis Vuitton, beginning with luggage, invested in other creative spheres: ready-to-wear industry as well as jewellery market (LVMH, 2012), and Gucci, beginning with leather goods, developed all sets of fashion products including leather goods, shoes, ready-to-wear, watches, jewellery and other products. (PPR, 2012). Meanwhile, there are some companies expensed segments into non-traditional area. For example, the luxury jewellery manufacture Bulgari and Italian brand Versace started to offer hotel under their brand (LVMH, 2012) and Armani provide different products from books, furniture and chocolates to restaurants, bars and spas. The another Italian luxury brand, Roberro Cavalli, famous for its fashion apparel for young generation, offer wine and vodka as well as run coffee bar (The Cavalli Caffe) and club (The Cavalli Club). 2. 2. 2 Striving for the Core: The Product Strategy For a global corporate, it is common rules of development depend on the core production or service and then diversification. However, even as diversification, the excellence core production and the strongest sectors within the luxury brands continued to earn the majority of its profits from the traditional products. (Ahrendts, 2013; Beverland, 2005; Miller & Mills, 2012). For luxury consumer, they expect to acquire a honorable brands and product so that they emphase on the value of core heritage. The leather goods, the core of Gucci Group, earn 59% of its revenue in 2012 (PPR, 2012). The iconic luggage is the tradition from the time corporate was founded and become the brand image of the LVMH Group. (LVMH, 2011) The turning of Burberry from a ageing British brand to a global luxury brand is a successful product strategy transition. Before 2006, through in a burgeoning global market. Burberry faced a low growth at a rate of 2 percentage every year and two competitors – LVMH and PPR had more than 12 times and 16 times Burberry’s sale revenue. By surving the sectors among Burberry products all over the world, the results indicate the outerwear, as the core, only accourted of 20% of Burberry’s global brand business. Figure 1: the Facts and Financial Statistics of Burberry (Resource from: Burberry, Yahoo Finance) [pic] After brainstorming and formalizing from the administrative board, the New Jersey factore which is making polo shirts was closed and invested in the Casteford factory in Yorkshire which make the heritage trech coat included traditional rainwear and exclusive waterproof gabardine. Burberry also hire Christopher Bailey as the global designer for innovation of core products. The facts and financial statistic of Burberry from 2006 to 2012 in Figure 1 showed that the decision to focus on the heritage opened up a wealth of creativity. By the end of 2012, the sale revenues and operating income had doubled than previous 5 years, achieving $3 billion and $600 billion respectively. (Burberry, 2007; Burberry, 2012) 2. 2. 3 The Brand Reputation: The Brand Strategy The brand is the most valuable part of luxury goods and the motivity of luxury consumption. Once separating from the luxury brand, the goods is the ordinary one. Every successful company sees the brand as the most valuable fortune. they use the advanced marketing logic and marketing operation to motivate the development, explore approaches to express the value and connotation of brands to luxury consumers and attract the royality of customers. As a tool of art, a carrier of history, and a spirit of classic, building-up a high quiality reputation is brand strategy for luxury companies. Since founded in 1847, Cartier, as one of the most established name in the jewellay market, is the reference of ture and timeless luxury. Designing by Cartier, the product distinguishes itself by the unique skills and excellence in design and execution. Nearly in 30 years, the extensive art activities are not competitive without the support by the Foundation Crtier pour l’Art Contemporain (Richemont, 2013). With the development of brand reputation, Cartier is the synonym of modern art and a pioneering approach. Meanwhile, most of luxury brands come from the centre of Renaissance 2. 3 The Features of Chinese Luxury Market Chinese market places the second place in the world of luxury consumption, surpassing the United States since 2008. Along with Japan, China is the strongest market with the increasing demand of 20 percentages. The consulting report from Glob Advantage estimate there are 18 thousand billionaires, 440 thousand multimillionaires and increasing the number of middle class achieving 250 million in 2015 in today’s China (Degen, 2009), which have the strong purchase power and need of luxury fashion industry. Even with the influence of the financial crisis, the sale revenue of luxury fashion in the mainland China rose by 16 percent, reaching about 64 billion RMB. The market research about Chinese market laid a foundation for the development and expansion strategy of luxury brands. The shifting attitudes to luxury brands, the greater sophistication of Chinese consumers and the new geographic markets have become the main features of Chinese luxury market. The three characteristics drive the global strategy of development for luxury brands. Figure 2. According to the survey of McKinsey & Company (KPMG, 2013), with the rapidly increase of income, more and more Chinese consumers shifts the attitude to luxury and feel comfortable to purchasing luxury products. The rich consumers which income over 300,000 RMB continued occupy the majority of the luxury purchase. Meanwhile, the statistics show that, the upper middle class (between 100,000 RMB and 200,000 RMB), which account for 22% of luxury goods purchase by the end of 2015, as the Figure 2 suggested, offers the biggest new growth opportunity. 2. 3. 1 The increasing number of overseas travel. In the information era, Chinese consumers have become more sophisticated than before. With the surge in the number of luxury stores, fashion magazine, the Web official site and the use of social media, Chinese consumers familiar with the luxury brands with the help of Internet, overseas travel, and the first-hand experience. For example, the research result indicated that in the last 12 months, the Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macro and Europe become the main destinations of overseas luxury purchase. Figure 3: Where did you purchase your cosmetics in the last 12 months? (Resource from: Global Reach of China Luxury of KPMG) [pic] 2. 3. 2 The increase of new market segmentation The rapidly growth of urbanisation and individual wealth emerge large quantity of geographic markets with sizable pools of luxury-goods consumptions. The luxury purchase and sale revenue of some medium and small cities, such as Qingdao in Shandong province and Wuxi in Zhejiang province, tripled than the previous 5 years. In the following years, the luxury consumption in these medium and small cities will achieve the same level with Hangzhou and Nanjing, the most developed market in mainland China, the sale of which will arrive at RMB 500 million yuan and account for 76% of whole market. 2. 3. 3 The increasing of Counterfeit goods Love for luxury, preference for counterfeit is a unique phenomenon in luxury consumption in Chinese luxury market. According to a report entitled â€Å"Transnational Organized Crime in East Asia and the Pacific† from Office on Drugs and Crime, almost 70% of global counterfeits luxury goods come from China and the value of counterfeit luxury goods imported into traditional luxury market on the order of $25 billion annually. In a confusion society , the luxury consumption of Chinese consumers become more irrationally than western consumer, which depended on the extenral need rather internal need (Zhang & Kim, 2013). For Chinese consumers, luxury brands are somethings â€Å"must to have† for them to reinforce their social status. however, the wealth gap between the rich and the poor in China is the largest all over the world, which offer the passion for consumption of luxury counterfeits. The young generation, aged 25 to 34 with limited budget for genuine luxury fashion goods, racked up nearly a quarter fo fake fanciers. 2. 4 The Passion for Luxury Consumption of Chinese consumers China is the second largest luxury market all over the world and attracting the attention of consumption of Chinese consumers. Under the influence of unique economic situation, cultural background and social factor, the behaviour of Chinese consumers in luxury fashion market have the distinctive characteristics. The bling factor influenced by economic situation, the saving face affected by the Confucianism and group orientation as the social factor drive the luxury consumption in Chinese fashion market. 2. 4. 1 The â€Å"Bling† Factor With the emerging of Internet, fashion magazines and social media, more and more Chinese consumers know the brands of luxury brands. However, the cultural concept and history of the luxury fashion brands are far away from numbers of Chinese luxury consumers. For many luxury fashion firms, there is not one typical luxury customer in China due to the different habits, different tastes and different income levels. The â€Å"bling† factor or following the whole market trend remains an important factor for the Chinese consumer in luxury fashion market. For example, according to luxury consumer report of Chinese market, almost 60 percent of the respondents in Tier 1 cities including Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai and other Tier 2 cities, stated that the key drivers for luxury consumption is the willingness to pay a product that just is popular or fashionable goods. Exclusivity or unique is an important understanding of luxury brand for Chinese consumption. There are about one fifth of customers consider that they will pay the luxury goods that are known and appreciated by the minority rather than the famous one. In terms of China’s unique cultural background, the Chinese consumers consider luxury brand value influenced by Confucianism. In the concept of Confucian, the notion of â€Å"mianzi† is defined as a reputation â€Å"achieved through getting on in through success and ostentation†. (Hu, 1944; Dong & Lee, 2007) The traditional cultural understanding and effecting about the face saving becomes the strongest and most conspicuous passion for luxury consumption, which means concerning about the impress to other and the visual display than the level of income. The Chinese consumer in luxury world trend to pay a premium product on the luxury brand rather than essential goods in daily life, due to strong desire and pressure of maintaining face. Taking the finding of KPMG as the example, comparing with the apparel, the stronger growth of market for fashion accessories is considerable. Nearly 40% of luxury consumers enjoy the luxury experiences and â€Å"the right of luxury† in a physical store/shop over purchases of luxury items. Overall, the face saving (saving mianzi) relates to the individual image of worth and reputation within a collectivism society. As the result, Chinese consumers are often careful not to lose face by standing out from the crowed when consuming luxury goods. The general strategy Although the market has its particular features, the development of luxury fashion strategy in Chinese luxury market is followed the general rules of luxury firms in global market. As the foundation strategy, the brand extension and production diversification also provide the base of the development in Chinese luxury market. The apparel, handbag, jewellery, fashion accessories and luxury servicers are offered in mainland China, especially in Tier 1 cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Promoting the sale revenue of the core products in mainland China, as the product strategy, enhances the brand awareness in Chinese market. Expanding the influence, luxury fashion firms invest large amount of money to popularize the brand reputation as a simple of elegance and grandeur as well as the means of fashion and art. The marketing strategy: raising brand awareness. Due to the lower brand awareness and lack of knowledge of brand value, the royalty of brand in Chinese market is lower than its in traditional European market. The special situation provides a strong externally powerful tool, which means not only expand the value of the luxury brand into a regular group of consumers, but also sway them making a purchase. In recent year, luxury fashion firm invest increasing the number of budget into Chinese market not only promote the brand awareness, but also help the consumers inform a notion about †luxury goods and luxury lifestyle† and why they should purchase luxury goods and luxury services. The brand building-up develop based not only the advertising on hard paper and television, also included the display on luxury goods exhibition and the customised publications. Nowadays, more and more luxury fashion goods exhibition held in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities, which offer a good opportunity for Chinese consumers to visit the luxury goods frequently displayed in store. Meanwhile, more and more consumers visiting the exhibition are not an onlooker. The localisation strategy The luxury fashion brand with high brand awareness contain the European and American culture and value which is living standard of high level, the product and design of high quality. Those values accepted by and attract young generation who trend to, however, it is not accepted by all Chinese consumers who have their own value. Respecting to Chinese traditional culture and integrated it into the product value is the essential of luxury fashion business in China. For example, Louis Vuitton setting Du Juan, the one of top Chinese model all over the world, and advertising as the Chinese image step one right place on direction and help western luxury fashion companies overcome the cultural barriers. This kind of strategy could build up strong attachments among Chinese consumers and help them accepted the unique characteristic of luxury fashion brands. The pricing strategy Price is one of the most significant signals in Chinese business world. For most Chinese consumers, price represented the value of luxury fashion goods. As a result, the luxury fashion products should not go on discount, no matter what the consumer is. The pricing strategy about goods, especially about core products, could bolster a brand’s prestige. For other items, companies could adjust the price according to the market condition and the inventory in order to long-term brand building. The retailing strategy A stupendous store belongs to the luxury fashion company located in the luxury area build up a sense of important and identified by the market. The luxury fashion positioning enhanced if the boutiques are visible to a lot of consumer in major fashion cities. The landmark stores opened in Chinese Tier 1 cities, such as Beijing, Hangzhou and Guangzhou, are the best locations to building the brand image and attracting the target customer groups. The commercial centres and shopping malls in luxury area are welcomed by most of fashion lovers, luxury followers and luxury intellectuals. Meanwhile, the investment on the landmark store is the best and effective way to generate profits and build-up brand royalty. In an Internet era, shopping online has become the major shopping way, especially for the young people. Although most luxury fashion companies have shied away from online channels due to the fearing that e-commerce might reduce the value of the luxury brand. However, for a long-term return and brand building, online platform provides not only a purchase channel, but also an information exchange channel between luxury fashion brand and Chinese consumers. With the developing of GDP and individual income of consumers, the global luxury fashion market and such the emerging market as China, have become the strategic focus of luxury market researcher and the consult company. This report attempts to identify development strategy of the luxury fashion brand, especially in mainland China market through the analysis of the change of global luxury fashion brand, overview of Chinese luxury market and the passion for luxury consumption. All those factors were identified depend on a comprehensive review of luxury fashion goods related researches and market consulting reports. The findings of this study provide a new insight of global and Chinese luxury fashion market for the consumers who interests the luxury fashion brand and a clear strategy guide for market managers of the luxury fashion firms, particular in the time of the company expand their business in mainland China. In addition, the study helps reduce the risks and costs of market research and helps the company overcome the huge gap in a multicultural business environment. First, the findings about the global luxury fashion market and the general development strategy in luxury fashion market all over the world indicated that the achieving the growth while remaining exclusive positioning, and attracting more consumers without losing cachet of brand value is the core strategy for every luxury corporates. The more loyal consumers may weaken due to the popular brands launched in the market because they choose pay a premium goods that majority and identified by small group. Consequently, the balance between growth and unique, the price and quality may be tougher in China than in any other market. However, customization develops quickly as the new trend of luxury fashion industry. The customizing activities have launched in different business sectors, but which is yet adopted by the luxury industry on a board. At presents, the customization just limited on the area of fashion accessories, apparel, handbags, and jewellery, and emphasising on customizing standard products, point of delivery customization and service and producing bespoke goods. Secondly, the increasing the number of consumers, overseas traveller, new market segments and the counterfeits goods have become the main features in the Chinese luxury fashion market in recent years. The features are important of stress the benefits of investment in mainland China. Based on the research findings, International marketers should setting extension strategy that is coherent with branding, merchandising and global image by serving China’s globetrotting shoppers, striking the balance between store numbers and quality and focusing anti-counterfeit goods. For Chinese globetrotting shoppers, the customer relationship management should emphasis global view rather than on mainland China. In the view of higher management board, the corporate organisational structure of the luxury fashion company should reflect the significant of Chinese market by sorting up the processes for generating direct communication between Chinese luxury consumers and the home headquarter. Based on the new market segmentation, the luxury company should upgrade current stores and outlets in order to keep consistent with the global image and emphasis on the business in Tier 1 cities. As the market statistics indicated that the luxury counterfeit goods have become the barriers for development in China, including seizing sale revenue and weakening brand value. Luxury fashion companies should co-operate with customs officials to seize fake goods at ports. Working with international national organisation or international associations should be the third path for anti-counterfeit activities. The co-operation should ranges from such international associations as World Intellectual Property to regional groups like US-focused International Anti-Counterfeits Coalition. Thirdly, the research findings about the passions for Chinese luxury fashion consumption indicated that the â€Å"bling† customers who lack of knowledge about luxury fashion goods or just following the trend account of a part of Chinese luxury consumers. Besides that, Chinese luxury consumption deeply influenced by saving faces and group orientation, which are the part of traditional Confusion value. Targeting different drivers of luxury consumption, managers should have different strategies. For the bling customers, the global luxury firms should invest in improving the brand awareness and expanding the brand value, which could offer a global opportunity to attracting potential customers and building loyalty and repeat customer groups. For the consumers who care about saving face, International luxury fashion markers should draw the outline of visual and outward appearance of rank and status when unfolding their marketing activities. Meanwhile, the companies should emphasise the brand’s country of origin, so the Chinese consumers have the confident to identified and distinguished with other mass products. In addition, the package of luxury goods also need to be recognisable in order to fit the moderate and lifestyle associated with Chinese consumers. Furthermore, in light of the results about group orientation, the management board company should stress the profit of luxury fashion goods as a symbol of social marker and the sale assistants inspire consumer purchases because of the goods could generate a sense of group belonging and conformity of the elite. Due to the group belonging, a special attention should be given to the layout of the physical store and the luxury service of sale staff. No matter who is the consumer, friends will be involved during the decision making process and become potential consumers in the future. Proving high-quality services and creating luxury experience for non-buyers also benefit for making sure that the brand accepted by group and that the consumer does not stand out from others. Finally, about the current expansion strategy in mainland China market, most of luxury fashion companies emphasis the strategy on marking, localization, pricing and retailing coherent with the global business aims. Raising brand awareness and expressing the luxury lifestyle lay the foundation of marketing strategy. In order to respect to Chinese traditional culture, luxury brands should integrate Chinese culture and art into design, package, and store layout of products, which accepted easily by Chinese consumers in different social class. Meanwhile, the research findings indicated that the price is the most important factor which influenced Chinese luxury consumption. Luxury marketers should balance the price between Chinese market and overseas. As for the retailing strategy, the luxury brand stresses the developing of boutiques store and the setting up online distribution channels. However, there are several special attention should be given to price gap between China and overseas, and the online distribution channels. On one hand, comparing with that rarely go on discount in mainland China, the luxury fashion goods is often at a discount at overseas, especially for the non-core products and in the time of Christmas or Summer Sale. On the other hand, the high rate of tax and fees raise up the price of luxury fashion goods in mainland China. According to the law and regulations in China, a luxury fashion goods, such as the eye cream of Estee Lauder native to the UK, is imported into Chinese market with 10% import tariff, 30% consumption tax, 5% sales tax and 17% value-add tax. Including the managing fees, advertising costs and other issues, the price of the eye cream is double in the UK. In the respect of the luxury company, the appreciate discount in Chinese market could promote the desire of consumption and boost the sale revenue; in the respect of tax policy makers in mainland China, reducing the rate of import tariff and consumption tax of international luxury fashion goods could Finally, luxury fashion goods, as a subject of nature, play different or scenarios, different income level, education background, and social – economic factors, as well as exam the type of relationship that seek from luxury fashion brands. On the view of passions for luxury consumption, there are many other drivers, such as collection, appreciation, should take the consideration into further research.

Single Fathers Versus Single Mothers

Single Fathers The Single Fathers versus Single Mothers First Name Last Name College / University you are enrolled at Professor’s Name Subject The Single Fathers versus Single Mothers The plight of single mothers has been all too familiar in the recent years. Social services have been tailored made to cater to their needs. It is with them that our society sympathizes. Then again, we seem to have forgotten that while there is a single mother, there is the single father who suffers just the same. He is that other part of the whole.He also has his own rights, needs and story that deserves to get noticed and paid attention to. Indeed, he too matters and that is for sure. The number of single fathers in the United States registered to about 2. 5 million by the year 2007. Of the 2. 5 million, 40 % of them are divorced, 4% are widowed and the remaining 16 % are separated. Eight percent of the population rears three or more children below 18 years of age. About 14 % of this population has been not been living in their own homes.The annual income of 27 % of these families amounts to about $ 50,000 or more (Information Please Database, 2007). This has been a big population boost as way back in 1970, single mothers account to about 90 % of the single family population while single fathers only numbers to 400,000 (Gillenkirk, 2000). The American family is a lot different now. More and more fathers left to rear their children after a break up are starting to out number the single mother population, almost twice as much. More than 2 million, which is about one – fifth of the population of single parents today, are single fathers.Even though the media's portrayal of single parents still focuses primarily on single moms, working single fathers now register to about 30 % of the single parents population (Gillenkirk, 2000). For most social workers, particularly the ones involved in the welfare department and civil service find it hard to fit in quality time in thei r schedules. Most of their time is consumed by long working hours. They could not avail of night shifts to take time off from work. As a result, they seldom spend worthwhile moments with their kids (Jaff, 1983).In the social work practice, fathers are branded as the â€Å"hard to reach clients. † Most lower – class single fathers are labeled this way. Their working habits or their seeming lack of interest may be to blame. These seem to augment the bad reputation of fathers as unhelpful and impassive and almost always pass the burden of responsibility to their wives. As if to add insult to injury, home visits are scheduled during the daytime and most of them are designed primarily for the mother and children, the father, in most cases is overlooked. Arranging schedules favorable to the father barely happen.If only social work practices will include single fathers in their client's list, they are most likely to respond (Jaff, 1983). Stereotyping among fathers themselves still abound the paternal role in the world of social services. In some cases, their roles are dictated by social workers. The lack of efforts to include single fathers in social work practices are taken as a non – involvement. While there is no denying of the incidents wherein fathers are out of reach, it must be noted how ever that most of this cases happen in social work programs primarily catered to single mothers.Even though equal importance are considered and expected, single fathers are seldom if not never the major clients as far as social work practices are concerned, by default or design (Jaff, 1983). The seeming exclusion of fathers in the social work practice was founded on either conceptual or organizational reasons. The irony is that most children in placement came from families with unhealthy father – child relationships. Sadly, making up for such loss never happens. While the importance of incorporating the father's role in such programs is slowly gaini ng recognition, what is ideal does not always exists in reality, though.Still, there is a decline in terms of partnership and fathers barely get the accommodation they deserve (Jaff, 1983). This kind of development is much awaited by the social work practice in general, particularly the children involved. They know too well that there is a large possibility of ignoring the father as an important client. Countless reasons contribute to this scenario. Nevertheless, fathers are not valued nor are they assisted at the very least in the field of research and social work practice. He is deemed to be the challenging rather than partner in delivering social work practices.The father’s role is of equal importance with that of the mother. If only outreach programs are incorporated, working hours is not a matter and if only cultures are respected, fathers can turn to social work practices whenever he needs a helping hand (Jaff, 1983). In the world today, the father’s role and pro blems as a client in the social work practice, commands a second glance. This is especially true now that women’s rights and roles are redefined. The father and the mother are now treated as two separate entities, thanks to the dictates of the modern world.Moreover, testing family roles is more acceptable today than ever before. Maternal as well as paternal roles are gaining it most deserved attention (Jaff, 1983). The issue of the father's rights as a partner in social work practices is one thing. It has never been so important to be reminded that efficient child welfare practices must be delivered. Both parents need to be involved as they form part of a whole. After all, the process starts with them. Biological or psychological, a parent's participation is crucial.It can make or break the whole child welfare practice no matter how noble the aim can possibly be (Jaff, 1983). A century ago, fathers left home in search for a job to sustain his family. Back then the father is t he breadwinner, a place that held a stable footing for a while. Undoubtedly, over the years, men have endured countless struggles to stay true to this assumed role in the family. Nevertheless, at the turn of yet another century, the male of the species being the sole providers remained to be the standard (Shaklee Year).However, such standard has been challenged by current changes in the family set – up for the past couple of years. An increasing number of married women are beginning to enter the employment scene. This includes mothers of young children. With this thing happening now, are fathers as breadwinners nearing extinction? (Shaklee Year). As mothers begin to enter the work force, the fathers are compelled to pay a price. Husbands of employed mothers appear to suffer mental anxiety and distress more as compared to husbands of stay – at – home moms. There are men who see themselves as a deficient provider.While women's liberation has done good things to th e female of species, it has abandoned the conventional concepts of machismo and fatherhood. In effect, it posted a challenge to the prototype of a man as a sole provider (Shaklee Year). The role of the father as a breadwinner may soon come to an end. Differing trends could be the reason for its downfall. Separating oneself from a certain role is a good recourse especially when conventional roles are at stake. Since the marrying age of men is getting high, they are most likely to father relatively few children.Moreover they would most probably file for divorce sooner or later. This trend includes children born out of wedlock, whose fathers’ participation is almost negligible. In addition, children out of wedlock who seldom receive support from them fathers are part of this trend. The amount of quality time shared by fathers and his family has gone down by 43 % from 1960 until 1980. These fathers have separated themselves from family life primarily because of the recent redefin ition of the father’s role in the family (Shaklee Year). The reverse of the process may be echoed by the second trend.This can be characterized by men’s view of their involvement in the family life as a measure of happiness. The average American father would trade job promotion for quality time (Shaklee Year). It took us how many years to be able to weigh against this reaffirmation the role of the male species in the family today to his role back when the days were young. The year was 1800’s when the strong male image came to life. The father’s role in child development and family life is vital as far as the home, being the focus of the work is concerned.However, when work leaves home, fathers become insignificant in the aspect of child development. As mothers grace the employment scene, the father’s role in the children’s lives are stressed like never before. Initially, fathers may not be comfortable to assume this role since they are not u sed with this kind of set – up. Though they may not see their fathers like themselves, they can very much resemble the role their great – grandfathers used to play at home (Shaklee Year). Today, a growing number of men are beginning to value a world beyond work and success.Things then known to be the measures of life’s worth. Now, they know that there is certainly nothing more of value than witnessing the first few gaits of their child, that sweet kiss on the cheek, the seemingly complicated art of tying a shoelace, that clip perfectly placed on her head or his boy’s first attempt to shoot that ball. These are the things can never be replaced by any amount of compensation for a job well done. Though it can never be well articulated in words, that sense of satisfaction can surely get any single father through the pains of his fate.The times when a father is able to watch a child grow and actually be there for him from the minute he begins to defy gravity u ntil such time when he can very well take care of himself are the very moments when the much needed strength may be drawn from. These are the things that can make loss and custody battles a little bit more bearable than it actually is (Gillenkirk, 2000). The very same things that remind him that after all, everything will be worth every pain endured and tear shed along the way. References Gillenkirk, J. Fathermag. com. (2000, November 4).A Revolution in American Fathering. Retrieved February 18, 2008, from http://www. fathermag. com/107/fathers/ Information Please Database. (2007). Fathers by the Numbers. Retrieved February 18, 2008, from http://www. infoplease. com/spot/dadcensus1. html. Jaff, E. D. (1983). Fathers and Child Welfare Services: The Forgotten Clients. Laurence Erlbaum Ass, 129 – 37. Shaklee, H. CCC. (Year). Fathers in America: 100 Years of Change. Retrieved February 18, 2008, from http://www. agls. uidaho. edu/ccc/CCC%20Families/Research/fathers. htm