Incident Response Essay

The emergency services (Police, Fire and Ambulance) have to respond to all emergency situations, but they have different roles and responsibilities and they have graded response policies. All emergencies are graded by the call handler according to the information from the caller and not by the way the incident is reported. If a caller dials 999 believing an incident is an emergency the call handler will assess the information and then decide whether it is top priority or if the incident does actually require an emergency response. Call handlers work under the supervision of team managers and incident managers. The standards of fire cover all fire services in the United Kingdom and were set originally in the 1930’s but were established in 1958 by the Home Office. They were more clearly defined and revised in 1974 and again in 1985. Fire risk assessment, until the current year, has been based upon this guidance, which consists of a prose description of the risk categories and a formula designed to determine a points rating or fire grading of premises. When the risk category of an area had been determined, the criteria set by the Home Office demanded that the fire service response to emergency calls, met minimum requirements in terms of speed and weight of attack. Grading of incidents by the Fire service is split into 5 categories: Category ‘A’ Built up areas in large cities containing large commercial and industrial premises or high rise property where there is a strong chance of fire spread. The recommended minimum first attendance was three pumps, two to attend within five minutes and one within eight minutes, to be achieved on at least 75% of occasions. Category ‘B’ Refers to large cities and towns with multi-storey buildings, including large areas of residential housing as well as industrial estates with high-risk occupants. The recommended minimum first attendance was two pumps, one to arrive within five minutes and the other within eight minutes, to be achieved on at least 75% of occasions. Category ‘C’ Refers to the outskirts of larger towns and the built-up areas of smaller towns and extensive areas of residential dwellings such as terraced houses  and semi-detached houses, blocks of flats as well as light industry/commercial properties. The recommended minimum first attendance was one pump within eight to ten minutes, to be achieved on at least 75% of occasions. Category ‘D’ Consisting of rural property, villages and farms and all areas that do not come under categories A-C. The recommended minimum first attendance was one pump within 20 minutes, to be achieved on 75% of occasions. Rural and remote is a separate category and has no pre-determined response time. The majority of Merseyside (91%) is classed as C or D risk. http://www.gloucestershire.police.uk/foi/Information%20Classes/Policies/item11547.pdf Grading of incidents by the police in England and wales are graded as ‘emergency ‘or ‘non-emergency’ in four grades. Grade 1 is the emergency response. An emergency contact will result in immediate police response. It involves circumstances where an incident is reported to the police which is currently taking place and there is a risk of danger to life, the use or immediate threat or use of violence or serious injury to a person or property. Criminal conduct will be dealt with as an emergency if the crime is going to be serious and is in progress, an offender has just been disturbed at the scene or the offender has been detained and there is a high risk that he is a threat to the general public. When the incident involves traffic collision it will be classed as an emergency if it involves or is likely to involve serious personal injury and also if the road is blocked due to the collision and if there is a dangerous or excessive build up of traffic. Also if the call handler who takes the call feels strongly that the incident should be classed as an emergency. The urban response time for this Grade is 10 minutes and the rural response time is 17 minutes. Grade 2 is classed as a Priority response. The call handler feels that the incident is important or urgent but does not need an emergency response. This could include incidents such as a concern for someone’s welfare, an offender has been detained but is not a threat to anyone, a road traffic accident that has injuries or has caused a serious obstruction, a witness may be lost or a person is suffering distress and is believed to be vulnerable. Resourses for a Grade 2 incident should be sent as soon as is safely possible and  within 15 minutes. Grade 3 is classed as a scheduled response. This is when the needs of the caller can be best achieved by scheduling a response. This could be when the response time is not critical when apprehending offenders or a better quality of policing can be given if it is dealt with by a scheduled response by a police officer or even by that person attending the police station. Incidents should be resolved to satisfaction level of caller as soon as possible and must be within 48 hours of first call. Grade 4 is classed as Resolution without deployment. This is used when an incident can be re solved through telephone advice, help desk, frequently asked questions or other appropriate agencies or services. The caller is advised of an agreed call-back time and to be as soon as possible and within 24 hours. Grading of incidents by the Ambulance Service are placed in three categories, this grading also applies to urgent calls from GPs and other health professionals, as well as calls from the general public. Category A is Priority. This is when an incident is considered to be immediately life-threatening examples are when a person is suffering with chest pains/cardiac arrest, unconscious/fainting or has breathing problems. The response time for a category A is within 8 minutes or less. Category B is where an incident is serious but not immediately life-threatening, examples are when someone has fallen or has serious bleeding, a sick person with no priority symptoms or overdose/poisoning. The response time for category B is within 14 minutes in urban areas and within 19 minutes in rural areas. Category C is when an incident is not serious or life-threatening, examples when someone has fallen over and assistance is required, and a sick person with a range of non-serious conditions such as d iarrhoea or someone with abdominal/back pains. In 2000 the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) became responsible for assessing the training and standards of all drivers who drive emergency response vehicles which are fitted with blue lights and sirens. When talking to other agencies the DSA drew up the Blue Light Users Working Party Expectations Document. This document contained a list of the expectations that drivers of emergency response vehicles should meet before being allowed  to drive these vehicles. This document was accepted by the three main emergency services (police, fire and ambulance). This document includes performance criteria and knowledge and consists of these three elements. All emergency drivers need to be over the age of 18 and in good health also must not have any motoring convictions against their name and this is checked every three years. Element one is the ability to assess the need for an emergency response. Element two is the ability to drive the vehicle safely to emergencies and element three is the ability to show the correct attitude when responding to emergencies. Police Service Drivers have to meet the standards set by the DSA but the police service also have their own driving centres. At the driving centres police are trained and graded according to National Training Standards, which is then approved by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). The type of driver training depends on the job role of that police officer. Police drivers can be graded as Standard response drivers, advanced drivers or pursuit drivers. Advanced drivers and pursuit drivers have intense training and they use high powered vehicles and advanced techniques for responding quickly and safely to emergencies. Fire Service Drivers The fire service also has its own driver training centres where drivers are trained to the standards met by their Fire Authority. To drive an Emergency Fire Appliance drivers must hold a Large Goods Vehicle (LGV) Licence and have received the necessary training and assessments. Only then can they be allowed to drive when responding to emergency situations provided the vehicle is fitted with audible/visual warning devices. Ambulance Service Drivers need to hold C1 (medium sized vehicle) and D1 (minibus) licences and receive the appropriate training by the DSA. Although some Ambulance Services especially in London state that ambulance drivers must hold a LGV licence. Ambulance driver training and assessments are usually carried out by independent driver training centres and not the Ambulance Service. Drivers of emergency vehicles also have to understand that bad driving can cause accidents. Drivers of emergency vehicles are not above the law even when attending emergencies they have to show that whilst going to an emergency they drove with care and attention and did not drive in a dangerous way, if they were foun d to have driven dangerously then they can be prosecuted in the same way as a member of the general public can. Also if the driver is convicted of a  serious traffic offence they may be disqualified from driving both emergency and privately owned vehicles. To reduce the danger to themselves and the general public the drivers of emergency vehicles must use their sirens and blue flashing lights to warn other road users as well as pedestrians and cyclists that their vehicle is responding to an emergency. Flashing blue lights and sirens should only be used when attending emergencies although police drivers can use flashing blue lights and sirens when attempting to stop another driver. Drivers of emergency vehicles have to follow the same traffic laws as everyone else, but when using flashing blue lights and sirens they are exempt from a number of motoring rules which means they can go through a red traffic light, pass to the right of a keep left sign, drive on a motorway hard shoulder even against the direction of the traffic and not follow the speed limit. The Highway Code is a book of rules which all drivers have to abide by the Highway Code makes no special rules for the emergency services other than for members of the general public to listen for the sirens and look for the blue flashing lights and to let them pass safely but still taking notice of all traffic signs. During unsociable hours consideration is given to the use of sirens especially around residential areas, unless conditions are bad and they need to use their siren. Blue lights would only be used as they are visible to road users at night. When there is an advantage to a silent approach then driving is altered and speed reduced. Members of the Public service are often judged harshly from the public, when it comes down to the pursuing of stolen vehicles. Although the public services do a good job when they pursuing stolen vehicles or on their way to an emergency incident there have been cases where their have been incidents where it has affected the public services. Example At 11.20 on the 19th of May 2008, Haley Adamson a 16 year old school girl was struck by a police car going 70mph whilst she was crossing a road in a residential area in Newcastle which had a 30mph speed limit. Hayley died immediately from the impact of the police car. The police car was being driven in pursuit of a vehicle that had just been registered on the police number plate recognition system. At the time of the incident the driver Pc

Corporate Social Responsibility and branding Essay

1. Introduction In this chapter the background of the thesis will be presented and discussed. Moreover, a literature review, research problem and research questions will be introduced in order to get an understanding of the study purpose. This is followed by the limitations and disposition. 1.1 Background The companies of today are very aware of what the public and other stakeholders demand from the companies ´ way of handle their responsibilities (Burchell, 2008). In order to form a strategy for the protection of their brand image and reputation many companies find themselves engaging in Corporate Social Responsibility activities (Kotler and Lee 2005), from now on abbreviated CSR. The desire of doing well and doing good in the society in which the company is operating have been of increasing interest world wide during the last decade. As a result, corporate reporting on social responsibility initiatives can more often be found in companies ´ marketing strategies (Kotler and Lee, 2005). Even though CSR activities are increasing among today ´s organizations there is still lack of a general universally definition of this concept (Crowther and Capaldi, 2008). But in a broad perspective CSR is understood and described as the way companies integrate social, economic and environmental matters into their internal organization (values, culture, decision making and strategy), which leads to establishment of better society, wealth and better practices within the company (Horrigan, 2010). Considering the breadth of CSR it can subsequently be described in many different names: corporate responsibility, corporate sustainability, corporate accountability, corporate citizenship, sustainable development etc (Benn and Bolton, 2011). In a shorter explanation, CSR can therefore be explained as the relationship between a corporation and its stakeholder (Crowther and Capaldi, 2008). Already in 1972 the American professor in Business Administration, Dow Votaw, stated that the amount pages on social responsibility written in our time would fill up a small library. As it turns out, he was right. CSR is here to stay. The idea of taking responsibility beyond what the law demands has increased since the millennial shift (Borglund, DeGeer and Sweet, 2012). Especially big organizations, both in the public and private sectors, are engaging in these kinds of activities (Burchell, 2008). The benefits of a company ´s usage of CSR activities can lead to a better position in the market and a positive return on investment. On top of that of course the benefits for society, such as improvement of life or a cleaner environment (Kotler and Lee, 2005). On the other hand, many view CSR mainly as a step towards a reputation as a responsible business and as good citizens (Burchell, 2008). Either how, risks by avoiding to use this concept can lead to lack of legitimacy for the organization. Meyer and Rowan (1977) also claim that when having a business it is important to be accepted and to be legitimacy in the environment as well as having effective and structured internal processes to survive. According to Grusch (2006) consumers actively scrutinize the local behavior of international companies. Their out-sourced ventures are also being observed, and information regarding possible bad behavior reaches the ears’ of the public much more quickly than it used to. Consequently, to the stakeholders’ awareness and other factors that can have an impact on a company’s survival, it is therefore important for companies to establish competitive advantage. Differentiation is a way to secure competitive advantage. By using a differentiation strategy a company ´s key strengths and core competencies builds up, and this is where CSR has an important role for a company ´s brand as it gets differentiate by incorporating it in the corporate image. This kind of action can generate to better brand attitudes and in the long run this will result in brand loyalty (Grant, 2008). 1.2 Literature review 1.3 Problem discussion As stated in the background, CSR is a burning question among today ´s companies. Stakeholders are starting to put more pressure on companies ´ responsibility in the society they are operating in, therefore, in order to get a competitive advantage CSR has become a major tool in their marketing strategy (Kotler and Lee, 2005). A branding law defined by Werther and Chandler (2005) shows that CSR will evoke attitudes towards the brand. Are these attitudes positive it will be lead to positive purchase decision and loyal customers, which give companies competitive advantage (Roper and Fill 2012). In Kotler and Lee ´s book (2005) Corporate Social Responsibility – Doing the most good for your company and your cause, they are describing examples of well-known organizations that have used CSR to increase their brand value. It has therefore been a shift focus in the CSR debate, nowadays it is more a debate of how CSR activities should be used and how effective it can be used as a branding tool, rather than if companies should use this concept or not (Smith, 2003). Based on the debate the question that arises is therefore: in what way should CSR activities be used in order to be effective for a positive attitude towards the brand? Today there are many studies relating to the area of CSR. Research does suggest there is a positive relationship between CSR and consumer attitudes towards brands and companies (Creyer and Ross 1997; Ellen, Mohr and Webb, 2000; Lacey and Kennet-Hensel, 2010). It is also shown in studies that CSR activities influence how the consumer behave when a certain brand appear in their mind (Becker-Olsen et al., 2006; Nhattacharya and Sen, 2004). However, most of these studies are focusing on people and brand perception in developed countries. The literatures were more specialized of how the CSR influences image of the brand in the western world and how the western public persuaded the brand of the CSR activities. When doing literature research, the amount of research studies about CSR in developing countries were of a narrow amount. No study could be found about CSR ´s link to branding in a developing ´s countries perspective, further, about how the locals ´ (employers of the company and the consumer in the developing country) brand perception of CSR activities are. As the real life stories in Kotler and Lee ´s book (2005) showed that CSR has an effective link to the brand. However, most of the organizations were conducting the CSR activities in the country they operated in and the society had a good knowledge of what CSR is. Likewise, a study showed that the brand would be â€Å"effected† and look different if the consumers were aware of CSR of the companies (Boulstridge and Carrigan 2000). So the question that can be asked and discussed is if it will appear an effective link to a company ´s brand in a country that is not developed? A research gap is therefore identified. If we place and conduct a study conducted in a western world in a developing country ´s context, would the outcome be the same? Would there be a similar link between CSR and branding there? 1.4 Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to get a deeper understanding of the link between a company ´s CSR and its branding in a developing country. Based on the purpose the following research questions will be presented: 1. What kind of CSR activities are being used to effectively increase positive attitudes towards the company ´s brand? 2. In what way is a company ´s CSR linked to its brand in the Philippines? 3. And how do these attitudes create value for the brand? 2. Methodology In this chapter the research methodology applied in this thesis will be discussed. A description regarding the method design of the study will be explained in the following order: research design, data collection, validity and reliability and data analysis. 2.1 Research approach There are three type of studies identified by Yin (2003): exploratory, explanatory and descriptive. An exploratory research design tries to define the research question and form the hypothesis. A descriptive research in the other hand, tries to describe a different characteristic of a phenomena that arises. When doing a descriptive case study the data collection is being guided by theories. When conducting the explanatory research design it is about how it explains course of events and relate how things happened (Yin, 2003). According to Yin (2003) this thesis can be seen as a descriptive research as it will focus on describing what impact CSR has on branding. When using a descriptive research the problem is structured and understood, which means that existing literature about the topic of CSR and branding (Ghauri and Gronhaug 2010). And this kind of research is mainly done when a researcher wants to gain an even better knowledge of a specific topic (Gill and Johnson, 2010). Due to the research purpose, which is to investigate how CSR influences on a company ´s brand in the Philippines this research method fits the best among the three other ways. 3.2 Research design I chose case studies method, because it enhances the understanding of what is going on in a particular case and it can involve a detailed investigation (Yin, 2009). This information that is gained from case studies are therefore relevant to answer some of my problem and research questions as I want to investigate companies ´ CSR activities and observe these activities in order to understand its impact on the brand which is the data collection in my first section of the study. By a case study approach observations of a companies ´ activities can be captured, which is in a way impossible to capture through questionnaires and interviews (Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2010). 3.3.1 The case study In the beginning of March I will travel to the Philippines to carry on an eight weeks field study which will give me the opportunity to study some Swedish/International companies ´ CSR activities and how these activities affect their brand perception by interviewing the consumers and workers in country. The case study will therefore obtain information to fulfill my purpose. The choice of companies: The information obtained will be from companies that use CSR activities in the Philippines. In order to fill the research gap I will be aiming for to study companies with well-known CSR activities. 2.3 Data collection A qualitative method will be used in order to collect the information for this thesis. Regarding to Trost (2005) a qualitative method is described as a method where the interviewer gathers the information on the interviewee ´s feelings, thoughts and experiences. Hence, to the search of a deeper understanding of how CSR affects the brand perception, this qualitative approach fit the purpose of the thesis because it can give me a deep information regarding the employees ´ and consumers opinions and feelings towards CSR in the Philippines and the brand which is the aim of this study. 2.3.1 Qualitative interview design Semi-structures face-to-face-interview. 4.4 Validity in qualitative research â€Å"Descriptive validity refers to the degree to which the actual description holds true† (Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2010 p. 210). Bias: When interviewing the respondents a â€Å"lifting† description of the brand can appear, because they have been chosen to do this certain interview about the companies’ actions. Language is the basic tool of interviewing, and may especially be important in qualitative interviewing (Kvale, 1989). The interviews will be conducted by me in English and since communication is a very important in order to get the information it can appear some small misunderstanding as English is not my mother language. But by conducting a face to face interview, the body language and face expression will increase the validity of the interviews. REFERENCES Kotler, P., Wong, V., Saunders, J. and Armstrong, G. (2004). Principles of Marketing, 4th European edition. New Jersey: FT- Prentice Hall. Burchell, J. 2008. The Corporate Social Responsibility Reader. London and New York: Routledge. Kotler, P. and Lee, N. (2005)  ´Corporate Social Responsibility – Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause ´, Hoboken, New Jersey. Crowther, D. and Capaldi, N. (2008). The ashgate research companion to Corporate Social Responsibility. MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall Suchman, M. C. (1995) Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches. Academy of Management Review, Vol 20;3, p 571-610. Benn, S. and Bolton, D. (2011). Key Concepts in Corporate Social Responsibility. SAGE Publications Ltd: London Werther, W.B. And Chandler, D. (2005)  ´Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility as Global Brand Insurance ´, Business Horizons 48:317-24. Boulstridge, E and Carrigan, M.†Do consumers really care about corporate responsbility? Highlighting the attitude behavior gap.† Journal of communication management, (2000): 359-360 Gill, J and Johnson, P, 2010, Research Methods for Managers 4th Edition. SAGE Publications Ltd Ghauri, P and Gronhaug, K, 2010, Research Methods in Business Studies 4th edition. Pearson Education Limited. Trost, J, 2005, Kvalitativa intervjuer. Studentlitteratur, Lund. Halvorsen, K. (1989). Samhà ¤llsvetenskaplig Metod. Oslo: Studentlitteratur AB Yin, R.K, 2009, Case Study Research – Design and Method. London: SAGE Ellen, P.S., Webb, D.J. & Mohr, L.A. (2006). Building corporate associations: consumer attributions for corporate socially responsible programs. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34 (2), 147-57. doi: 10.1177/0092070305284976 Creyer, E. H., & Ross, W. T., Jr. (1997). The influence of firm behavior on purchase intention: Do consumers really care about business ethics? Journal of Consumer Marketing, 14(6), 421–32. doi: 10.1108/07363769710185999

Black House Chapter Seventeen

17 GEORGE POTTER is sitting on the bunk in the third holding cell down a short corridor that smells of piss and disinfectant. He's looking out the window at the parking lot, which has lately been the scene of so much excitement and which is still full of milling people. He doesn't turn at the sound of Jack's approaching footfalls. As he walks, Jack passes two signs. ONE CALL MEANS ONE CALL, reads the first. A.A. MEETINGS MON. AT 7 P.M., N.A. MEETINGS THURS. AT 8 P.M., reads the second. There's a dusty drinking fountain and an ancient fire extinguisher, which some wit has labeled LAUGHING GAS. Jack reaches the bars of the cell and raps on one with his house key. Potter at last turns away from the window. Jack, still in that state of hyperawareness that he now recognizes as a kind of Territorial residue, knows the essential truth of the man at a single look. It's in the sunken eyes and the dark hollows beneath them; it's in the sallow cheeks and the slightly hollowed temples with their delicate nestles of veins; it's in the too sharp prominence of the nose. â€Å"Hello, Mr. Potter,† he says. â€Å"I want to talk to you, and we have to make it fast.† â€Å"They wanted me,† Potter remarks. â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"Maybe you should have let 'em take me. Another three-four months, I'm out of the race anyway.† In his breast pocket is the Mag-card Dale has given him, and Jack uses it to unlock the cell door. There's a harsh buzzing as it trundles back on its short track. When Jack removes the key, the buzzing stops. Downstairs in the ready room, an amber light marked H.C. 3 will now be glowing. Jack comes in and sits down on the end of the bunk. He has put his key ring away, not wanting the metallic smell to corrupt the scent of lilies. â€Å"Where have you got it?† Without asking how Jack knows, Potter raises one large gnarled hand a carpenter's hand and touches his midsection. Then he lets it drop. â€Å"Started in the gut. That was five years ago. I took the pills and the shots like a good boy. La Riviere, that was. That stuff . . . man, I was throwing up ever'where. Corners and just about ever'where. Once I threw up in my own bed and didn't even know it. Woke up the next morning with puke drying on my chest. You know anything about that, son?† â€Å"My mother had cancer,† Jack says quietly. â€Å"When I was twelve. Then it went away.† â€Å"She get five years?† â€Å"More.† â€Å"Lucky,† Potter says. â€Å"Got her in the end, though, didn't it?† Jack nods. Potter nods back. They're not quite friends yet, but it's edging that way. It's how Jack works, always has been. â€Å"That shit gets in and waits,† Potter tells him. â€Å"My theory is that it never goes away, not really. Anyway, shots is done. Pills is done, too. Except for the ones that kill the pain. I come here for the finish.† â€Å"Why?† This is not a thing Jack needs to know, and time is short, but it's his technique, and he won't abandon what works just because there are a couple of State Police jarheads downstairs waiting to take his boy. Dale will have to hold them off, that's all. â€Å"Seems like a nice enough little town. And I like the river. I go down ever' day. Like to watch the sun on the water. Sometimes I think of all the jobs I did Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and then sometimes I don't think about much of anything. Sometimes I just sit there on the bank and feel at peace.† â€Å"What was your line of work, Mr. Potter?† â€Å"Started out as a carpenter, just like Jesus. Progressed to builder, then got too big for my britches. When that happens to a builder, he usually goes around calling himself a contractor. I made three-four million dollars, had a Cadillac, had a young woman who hauled my ashes Friday nights. Nice young woman. No trouble. Then I lost it all. Only thing I missed was the Cadillac. It had a smoother ride than the woman. Then I got my bad news and come here.† He looks at Jack. â€Å"You know what I think sometimes? That French Landing's close to a better world, one where things look and smell better. Maybe where people act better. I don't go around with folks I'm not a friendly type person but that doesn't mean I don't feel things. I got this idea in my head that it's not too late to be decent. You think I'm crazy?† â€Å"No,† Jack tells him. â€Å"That's pretty much why I came here myself. I'll tell you how it is for me. You know how if you put a thin blanket over a window, the sun will still shine through?† George Potter looks at him with eyes that are suddenly alight. Jack doesn't even have to finish the thought, which is good. He has found the wavelength he almost always does, it's his gift and now it's time to get down to business. â€Å"You do know,† Potter says simply. Jack nods. â€Å"You know why you're here?† â€Å"They think I killed that lady's kid.† Potter nods toward the window. â€Å"The one out there that was holdin' up the noose. I didn't. That's what I know.† â€Å"Okay, that's a start. Listen to me, now.† Very quickly, Jack lays out the chain of events that has brought Potter to this cell. Potter's brow furrows as Jack speaks, and his big hands knot together. â€Å"Railsback!† he says at last. â€Å"I shoulda known! Nosy goddamn old man, always askin' questions, always askin' do you want to play cards or maybe shoot some pool or, I dunno, play Parcheesi, for Christ's sake! All so he can ask questions. Goddamn nosey parker . . .† There's more in this vein, and Jack lets him go on with it for a while. Cancer or no cancer, this old fellow has been ripped out of his ordinary routine without much mercy, and needs to vent a little. If Jack cuts him off to save time, he'll lose it instead. It's hard to be patient (how is Dale holding those two assholes off ? Jack doesn't even want to know), but patience is necessary. When Potter begins to widen the scope of his attack, however (Morty Fine comes in for some abuse, as does Andy Railsback's pal Irv Throneberry), Jack steps in. â€Å"The point is, Mr. Potter, that Railsback followed someone to your room. No, that's the wrong way to put it. Railsback was led to your room.† Potter doesn't reply, just sits looking at his hands. But he nods. He's old, he's sick and getting sicker, but he's four counties over from stupid. â€Å"The person who led Railsback was almost certainly the same person who left the Polaroids of the dead children in your closet.† â€Å"Yar, makes sense. And if he had pictures of the dead kiddies, he was prob'ly the one who made 'em dead.† â€Å"Right. So I have to wonder â€Å" Potter waves an impatient hand. â€Å"I guess I know what you got to wonder. Who there is around these parts who'd like to see Chicago Potsie strung up by the neck. Or the balls.† â€Å"Exactly.† â€Å"Don't want to put a stick in your spokes, sonny, but I can't think of nobody.† â€Å"No?† Jack raises his eyebrows. â€Å"Never did business around here, built a house or laid out a golf course?† Potter raises his head and gives Jack a grin. â€Å"Course I did. How else d'you think I knew how nice it is? Specially in the summer? You know the part of town they call Libertyville? Got all those ‘ye olde' streets like Camelot and Avalon?† Jack nods. â€Å"I built half of those. Back in the seventies. There was a fella around then . . . some moke I knew from Chicago . . . or thought I knew Was he in the business?† This last seems to be Potter addressing Potter. In any case, he gives his head a brief shake. â€Å"Can't remember. Doesn't matter, anyway. How could it? Fella was gettin' on then, must be dead now. It was a long time ago.† But Jack, who interrogates as Jerry Lee Lewis once played the piano, thinks it does matter. In the usually dim section of his mind where intuition keeps its headquarters, lights are coming on. Not a lot yet, but maybe more than just a few. â€Å"A moke,† he says, as if he has never heard the word before. â€Å"What's that?† Potter gives him a brief, irritated look. â€Å"A citizen who . . . well, not exactly a citizen. Someone who knows people who are connected. Or maybe sometimes connected people call him. Maybe they do each other favors. A moke. It's not the world's best thing to be.† No, Jack thinks, but moking can get you a Cadillac with that nice smooth ride. â€Å"Were you ever a moke, George?† Got to get a little more intimate now. This is not a question Jack can address to a Mr. Potter. â€Å"Maybe,† Potter says after a grudging, considering pause. â€Å"Maybe I was. Back in Chi. In Chi, you had to scratch backs and wet beaks if you wanted to land the big contracts. I don't know how it is there now, but in those days, a clean contractor was a poor contractor. You know?† Jack nods. â€Å"The biggest deal I ever made was a housing development on the South Side of Chicago. Just like in that song about bad, bad Leroy Brown.† Potter chuckles rustily. For a moment he's not thinking about cancer, or false accusations, or almost being lynched. He's living in the past, and it may be a little sleazy, but it's better than the present the bunk chained to the wall, the steel toilet, the cancer spreading through his guts. â€Å"Man, that one was big, I kid you not. Lots of federal money, but the local hotshots decided where the dough went home at night. And me and this other guy, this moke, we were in a horse race â€Å" He breaks off, looking at Jack with wide eyes. â€Å"Holy shit, what are you, magic?† â€Å"I don't know what you mean. I'm just sitting here.† â€Å"That guy was the guy who showed up here. That was the moke!† â€Å"I'm not following you, George.† But Jack thinks he is. And although he's starting to get excited, he shows it no more than he did when the bartender told him about Kinderling's little nose-pinching trick. â€Å"It's probably nothing,† Potter says. â€Å"Guy had plenty of reasons not to like yours truly, but he's got to be dead. He'd be in his eighties, for Christ's sake.† â€Å"Tell me about him,† Jack says. â€Å"He was a moke,† Potter repeats, as if this explains everything. â€Å"And he must have got in trouble in Chicago or somewhere around Chicago, because when he showed up here, I'm pretty sure he was using a different name.† â€Å"When did you swink him on the housing-development deal, George?† Potter smiles, and something about the size of his teeth and the way they seem to jut from the gums allows Jack to see how fast death is rushing toward this man. He feels a little shiver of gooseflesh, but he returns the smile easily enough. This is also how he works. â€Å"If we're gonna talk about mokin' and swinkin', you better call me Potsie.† â€Å"All right, Potsie. When did you swink this guy in Chicago?† â€Å"That much is easy,† Potter says. â€Å"It was summer when the bids went out, but the hotshots were still bellerin' about how the hippies came to town the year before and gave the cops and the mayor a black eye. So I'd say 1969. What happened was I'd done the building commissioner a big favor, and I'd done another for this old woman who swung weight on this special Equal Opportunity Housing Commission that Mayor Daley had set up. So when the bids went out, mine got special consideration. This other guy the moke I have no doubt that his bid was lower. He knew his way around, and he musta had his own contacts, but that time I had the inside track.† He smiles. The gruesome teeth appear, then disappear again. â€Å"Moke's bid? Somehow gets lost. Comes in too late. Bad luck. Chicago Potsie nails the job. Then, four years later, the moke shows up here, bidding on the Libertyville job. Only that time when I beat him, everything was square-john. I pulled no strings. I met him in the bar at the Nelson Hotel the night after the contract was awarded, just by accident. And he says, ‘You were that guy in Chicago.' And I say, ‘There are lots of guys in Chicago.' Now this guy was a moke, but he was a scary moke. He had a kind of smell about him. I can't put it any better than that. Anyway, I was big and strong in those days, I could be mean, but I was pretty meek that time. Even after a drink or two, I was pretty meek. † ‘Yeah,' he says, ‘there are a lot of guys in Chicago, but only one who diddled me. I still got a sore ass from that, Potsie, and I got a long memory.' â€Å"Any other time, any other guy, I might have asked how good his memory stayed after he got his head knocked on the floor, but with him I just took it. No more words passed between us. He walked out. I don't think I ever saw him again, but I heard about him from time to time while I was working the Libertyville job. Mostly from my subs. Seems like the moke was building a house of his own in French Landing. For his retirement. Not that he was old enough to retire back then, but he was gettin' up a little. Fifties, I'd say . . . and that was in '72.† â€Å"He was building a house here in town,† Jack muses. â€Å"Yeah. It had a name, too, like one of those English houses. The Birches, Lake House, Beardsley Manor, you know.† â€Å"What name?† â€Å"Shit, I can't even remember the moke's name, how do you expect me to remember the name of the house he built? But one thing I do remember: none of the subs liked it. It got a reputation.† â€Å"Bad?† â€Å"The worst. There were accidents. One guy cut his hand clean off on a band saw, almost bled to death before they got him to the hospital. Another guy fell off a scaffolding and ended up paralyzed . . . what they call a quad. You know what that is?† Jack nods. â€Å"Only house I ever heard of people were calling haunted even before it was all the way built. I got the idea that he had to finish most of it himself.† â€Å"What else did they say about this place?† Jack puts the question idly, as if he doesn't care much one way or the other, but he cares a lot. He has never heard of a so-called haunted house in French Landing. He knows he hasn't been here anywhere near long enough to hear all the tales and legends, but something like this . . . you'd think something like this would pop out of the deck early. â€Å"Ah, man, I can't remember. Just that . . .† He pauses, eyes distant. Outside the building, the crowd is finally beginning to disperse. Jack wonders how Dale is doing with Brown and Black. The time seems to be racing, and he hasn't gotten what he needs from Potter. What he's gotten so far is just enough to tantalize. â€Å"One guy told me the sun never shone there even when it shone,† Potter says abruptly. â€Å"He said the house was a little way off the road, in a clearing, and it should have gotten sun at least five hours a day in the summer, but it somehow . . . didn't. He said the guys lost their shadows, just like in a fairy tale, and they didn't like it. And sometimes they heard a dog growling in the woods. Sounded like a big one. A mean one. But they never saw it. You know how it is, I imagine. Stories get started, and then they just kinda feed on themselves . . .† Potter's shoulders suddenly slump. His head lowers. â€Å"Man, that's all I can remember.† â€Å"What was the moke's name when he was in Chicago?† â€Å"Can't remember.† Jack suddenly thrusts his open hands under Potter's nose. With his head lowered, Potter doesn't see them until they're right there, and he recoils, gasping. He gets a noseful of the dying smell on Jack's skin. â€Å"What . . . ? Jesus, what's that?† Potter seizes one of Jack's hands and sniffs again, greedily. â€Å"Boy, that's nice. What is it?† â€Å"Lilies,† Jack says, but it's not what he thinks. What he thinks is The memory of my mother. â€Å"What was the moke's name when he was in Chicago?† â€Å"It . . . something like beer stein. That's not it, but it's close. Best I can do.† â€Å"Beer stein,† Jack says. â€Å"And what was his name when he got to French Landing three years later?† Suddenly there are loud, arguing voices on the stairs. â€Å"I don't care!† someone shouts. Jack thinks it's Black, the more officious one. â€Å"It's our case, he's our prisoner, and we're taking him out! Now!† Dale: â€Å"I'm not arguing. I'm just saying that the paperwork â€Å" Brown: â€Å"Aw, fuck the paperwork. We'll take it with us.† â€Å"What was his name in French Landing, Potsie?† â€Å"I can't † Potsie takes Jack's hands again. Potsie's own hands are dry and cold. He smells Jack's palms, eyes closed. On the long exhale of his breath he says: â€Å"Burnside. Chummy Burnside. Not that he was chummy. The nickname was a joke. I think his real handle might have been Charlie.† Jack takes his hands back. Charles â€Å"Chummy† Burnside. Once known as Beer Stein. Or something like Beer Stein. â€Å"And the house? What was the name of the house?† Brown and Black are coming down the corridor now, with Dale scurrying after them. There's no time, Jack thinks. Damnit all, if I had even five minutes more And then Potsie says, â€Å"Black House. I don't know if that's what he called it or what the subs workin' the job got to calling it, but that was the name, all right.† Jack's eyes widen. The image of Henry Leyden's cozy living room crosses his mind: sitting with a drink at his elbow and reading about Jarndyce and Jarndyce. â€Å"Did you say Bleak House?† â€Å"Black,† Potsie reiterates impatiently. â€Å"Because it really was. It was â€Å" â€Å"Oh dear to Christ,† one of the state troopers says in a snotty look-what-the-cat-dragged-in voice that makes Jack feel like rearranging his face. It's Brown, but when Jack glances up, it's Brown's partner he looks at. The coincidence of the other trooper's name makes Jack smile. â€Å"Hello, boys,† Jack says, getting up from the bunk. â€Å"What are you doing here, Hollywood?† Black asks. â€Å"Just batting the breeze and waiting for you,† Jack says, and smiles brilliantly. â€Å"I suppose you want this guy.† â€Å"You're goddamn right,† Brown growls. â€Å"And if you fucked up our case â€Å" â€Å"Gosh, I don't think so,† Jack says. It's a struggle, but he manages to achieve a tone of amiability. Then, to Potsie: â€Å"You'll be safer with them than here in French Landing, sir.† George Potter looks vacant again. Resigned. â€Å"Don't matter much either way,† he says, then smiles as a thought occurs to him. â€Å"If old Chummy's still alive, and you run across him, you might ask him if his ass still hurts from that diddling I gave him back in '69. And tell him old Chicago Potsie says hello.† â€Å"What the hell are you talking about?† Brown asks, glowering. He has his cuffs out, and is clearly itching to snap them on George Potter's wrists. â€Å"Old times,† Jack says. He stuffs his fragrant hands in his pockets and leaves the cell. He smiles at Brown and Black. â€Å"Nothing to concern you boys.† Trooper Black turns to Dale. â€Å"You're out of this case,† he says. â€Å"Those are words of one syllable. I can't make it any simpler. So tell me once and mean it forever, Chief: Do you understand?† â€Å"Of course I do,† Dale said. â€Å"Take the case and welcome. But get off the tall white horse, willya? If you expected me to simply stand by and let a crowd of drunks from the Sand Bar take this man out of Lucky's and lynch him â€Å" â€Å"Don't make yourself look any stupider than you already are,† Brown snaps. â€Å"They picked his name up off your police calls.† â€Å"I doubt that,† Dale says quietly, thinking of the doper's cell phone borrowed out of evidence storage. Black grabs Potter's narrow shoulder, gives it a vicious twist, then thrusts him so hard toward the door at the end of the corridor that the man almost falls down. Potter recovers, his haggard face full of pain and dignity. â€Å"Troopers,† Jack says. He doesn't speak loudly or angrily, but they both turn. â€Å"Abuse that prisoner one more time in my sight, and I'll be on the phone to the Madison shoofly-pies the minute you leave, and believe me, Troopers, they will listen to me. Your attitude is arrogant, coercive, and counterproductive to the resolution of this case. Your interdepartmental cooperation skills are nonexistent. Your demeanor is unprofessional and reflects badly upon the state of Wisconsin. You will either behave yourselves or I guarantee you that by next Friday you will be looking for security jobs.† Although his voice remains even throughout, Black and Brown seem to shrink as he speaks. By the time he finishes, they look like a pair of chastened children. Dale is gazing at Jack with awe. Only Potter seems unaffected; he's gazing down at his cuffed hands with eyes that could be a thousand miles away. â€Å"Go on, now,† Jack says. â€Å"Take your prisoner, take your case records, and get lost.† Black opens his mouth to speak, then shuts it again. They leave. When the door closes behind them, Dale looks at Jack and says, very softly: â€Å"Wow.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"If you don't know,† Dale says, â€Å"I'm not going to tell you.† Jack shrugs. â€Å"Potter will keep them occupied, which frees us up to do a little actual work. If there's a bright side to tonight, that's it.† â€Å"What did you get from him? Anything?† â€Å"A name. Might mean nothing. Charles Burnside. Nicknamed Chummy. Ever heard of him?† Dale sticks out his lower lip and pulls it thoughtfully. Then he lets go and shakes his head. â€Å"The name itself seems to ring a faint bell, but that might only be because it's so common. The nickname, no.† â€Å"He was a builder, a contractor, a wheeler-dealer in Chicago over thirty years ago. According to Potsie, at least.† â€Å"Potsie,† Dale says. The tape is peeling off a corner of the ONE CALL MEANS ONE CALL sign, and Dale smoothes it back down with the air of a man who doesn't really know what he's doing. â€Å"You and he got pretty chummy, didn't you?† â€Å"No,† Jack says. â€Å"Burnside's Chummy. And Trooper Black doesn't own the Black House.† â€Å"You've gone dotty. What black house?† â€Å"First, it's a proper name. Black, capital B, house, capital H. Black House. You ever heard of a house named that around here?† Dale laughs. â€Å"God, no.† Jack smiles back, but all at once it's his interrogation smile, not his I'm-discussing-things-with-my-friend smile. Because he's a coppice-man now. And he has seen a funny little flicker in Dale Gilbertson's eyes. â€Å"Are you sure? Take a minute. Think about it.† â€Å"Told you, no. People don't name their houses in these parts. Oh, I guess old Miss Graham and Miss Pentle call their place on the other side of the town library Honeysuckle, because of the honeysuckle bushes all over the fence in front, but that's the only one in these parts I ever heard named.† Again, Jack sees that flicker. Potter is the one who will be charged for murder by the Wisconsin State Police, but Jack didn't see that deep flicker in Potter's eyes a single time during their interview. Because Potter was straight with him. Dale isn't being straight. But I have to be gentle with him, Jack tells himself. Because he doesn't know he's not being straight. How is that possible? As if in answer, he hears Chicago Potsie's voice: One guy told me the sun never shone there even when it shone . . . he said the guys lost their shadows, just like in a fairy tale. Memory is a shadow; any cop trying to reconstruct a crime or an accident from the conflicting accounts of eyewitnesses knows it well. Is Potsie's Black House like this? Something that casts no shadow? Dale's response (he has now turned full-face to the peeling poster, working on it as seriously as he might work on a heart attack victim in the street, administering CPR right out of the manual until the ambulance arrives) suggests to Jack that it might be something like just that. Three days ago he wouldn't have allowed himself to consider such an idea, but three days ago he hadn't returned to the Territories. â€Å"According to Potsie, this place got a reputation as a haunted house even before it was completely built,† Jack says, pressing a little. â€Å"Nope.† Dale moves on to the sign about the A.A. and N.A. meetings. He examines the tape studiously, not looking at Jack. â€Å"Doesn't ring the old chimeroo.† â€Å"Sure? One man almost bled to death. Another took a fall that paralyzed him. People complained listen to this, Dale, it's good according to Potsie, people complained about losing their shadows. Couldn't see them even at midday, with the sun shining full force. Isn't that something?† â€Å"Sure is, but I don't remember any stories like that.† As Jack walks toward Dale, Dale moves away. Almost scutters away, although Chief Gilbertson is not ordinarily a scuttering man. It's a little funny, a little sad, a little horrible. He doesn't know he's doing it, Jack's sure of that. There is a shadow. Jack sees it, and on some level Dale knows he sees it. If Jack should force him too hard, Dale would have to see it, too . . . and Dale doesn't want that. Because it's a bad shadow. Is it worse than a monster who kills children and then eats selected portions of their bodies? Apparently part of Dale thinks so. I could make him see that shadow, Jack thinks coldly. Put my hands under his nose my lily-scented hands and make him see it. Part of him even wants to see it. The coppiceman part. Then another part of Jack's mind speaks up in the Speedy Parker drawl he now remembers from his childhood. You could push him over the edge of a nervous breakdown, too, Jack. God knows he's close to one, after all the goin's-ons since the Irkenham boy got took. You want to chance that? And for what? He didn't know the name, about that he was bein' straight. â€Å"Dale?† Dale gives Jack a quick, bright glance, then looks away. The furtive quality in that quick peek sort of breaks Jack's heart. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Let's go get a cup of coffee.† At this change of subject, Dale's face fills with glad relief. He claps Jack on the shoulder. â€Å"Good idea!† God-pounding good idea, right here and now, Jack thinks, then smiles. There's more than one way to skin a cat, and more than one way to find a Black House. It's been a long day. Best, maybe, to let this go. At least for tonight. â€Å"What about Railsback?† Dale asks as they clatter down the stairs. â€Å"You still want to talk to him?† â€Å"You bet,† Jack replies, heartily enough, but he holds out little hope for Andy Railsback, a picked witness who saw exactly what the Fisherman wanted him to see. With one little exception . . . perhaps. The single slipper. Jack doesn't know if it will ever come to anything, but it might. In court, for instance . . . as an identifying link . . . This is never going to court and you know it. It may not even finish in this w His thoughts are broken by a wave of cheerful sound as they step into the combination ready room and dispatch center. The members of the French Landing Police Department are standing and applauding. Henry Leyden is also standing and applauding. Dale joins in. â€Å"Jesus, guys, quit it,† Jack says, laughing and blushing at the same time. But he won't lie to himself, try to tell himself he takes no pleasure in that round of applause. He feels the warmth of them; can see the light of their regard. Those things aren't important. But it feels like coming home, and that is. When Jack and Henry step out of the police station an hour or so later, Beezer, Mouse, and Kaiser Bill are still there. The other two have gone back to the Row to fill in the various old ladies on tonight's events. â€Å"Sawyer,† Beezer says. â€Å"Yes,† Jack says. â€Å"Anything we can do, man. Can you dig that? Anything.† Jack looks at the biker thoughtfully, wondering what his story is . . . other than grief, that is. A father's grief. Beezer's eyes remain steady on his. A little off to one side, Henry Leyden stands with his head raised to smell the river fog, humming deep down in his throat. â€Å"I'm going to look in on Irma's mom tomorrow around eleven,† Jack says. â€Å"Do you suppose you and your friends could meet me in the Sand Bar around noon? She lives close to there, I understand. I'll buy youse a round of lemonade.† Beezer doesn't smile, but his eyes warm up slightly. â€Å"We'll be there.† â€Å"That's good,† Jack says. â€Å"Mind telling me why?† â€Å"There's a place that needs finding.† â€Å"Does it have to do with whoever killed Amy and the other kids?† â€Å"Maybe.† Beezer nods. â€Å"Maybe's good enough.† Jack drives back toward Norway Valley slowly, and not just because of the fog. Although it's still early in the evening, he is tired to the bone and has an idea that Henry feels the same way. Not because he's quiet; Jack has become used to Henry's occasional dormant stretches. No, it's the quiet in the truck itself. Under ordinary circumstances, Henry is a restless, compulsive radio tuner, running through the La Riviere stations, checking KDCU here in town, then ranging outward, hunting for Milwaukee, Chicago, maybe even Omaha, Denver, and St. Louis, if conditions are right. An appetizer of bop here, a salad of spiritual music there, perhaps a dash of Perry Como way down at the foot of the dial: hot-diggity, dog-diggity, boom what-ya-do-to-me. Not tonight, though. Tonight Henry just sits quiet on his side of the truck with his hands folded in his lap. At last, when they're no more than two miles from his driveway, Henry says: â€Å"No Dickens tonight, Jack. I'm going straight to bed .† The weariness in Henry's voice startles Jack, makes him uneasy. Henry doesn't sound like himself or any of his radio personae; at this moment he just sounds old and tired, on the way to being used up. â€Å"I am, too,† Jack agrees, trying not to let his concern show in his voice. Henry picks up on every vocal nuance. He's eerie that way. â€Å"What do you have in mind for the Thunder Five, may I ask?† â€Å"I'm not entirely sure,† Jack says, and perhaps because he's tired, he gets this untruth past Henry. He intends to start Beezer and his buddies looking for the place Potsie told him about, the place where shadows had a way of disappearing. At least way back in the seventies they did. He had also intended to ask Henry if he's ever heard of a French Landing domicile called Black House. Not now, though. Not after hearing how beat Henry sounds. Tomorrow, maybe. Almost certainly, in fact, because Henry is too good a resource not to use. Best to let him recycle a little first, though. â€Å"You have the tape, right?† Henry pulls the cassette with the Fisherman's 911 call on it partway out of his breast pocket, then puts it back. â€Å"Yes, Mother. But I don't think I can listen to a killer of small children tonight, Jack. Not even if you come in and listen with me.† â€Å"Tomorrow will be fine,† Jack says, hoping he isn't condemning another of French Landing's children to death by saying this. â€Å"You're not entirely sure of that.† â€Å"No,† Jack agrees, â€Å"but you listening to that tape with dull ears could do more harm than good. I am sure of that.† â€Å"First thing in the morning. I promise.† Henry's house is up ahead now. It looks lonely with only the one light on over the garage, but of course Henry doesn't need lights inside to find his way. â€Å"Henry, are you going to be all right?† â€Å"Yes,† Henry says, but to Jack he doesn't seem entirely sure. â€Å"No Rat tonight,† Jack tells him firmly. â€Å"No.† â€Å"Ditto the Shake, the Shook, the Sheik.† Henry's lips lift in a small smile. â€Å"Not even a George Rathbun promo for French Landing Chevrolet, where price is king and you never pay a dime of interest for the first six months with approved credit. Straight to bed.† â€Å"Me too,† Jack says. But an hour after lying down and putting out the lamp on his bedside table, Jack is still unable to sleep. Faces and voices revolve in his mind like crazy clock hands. Or a carousel on a deserted midway. Tansy Freneau: Bring out the monster who killed my pretty baby. Beezer St. Pierre: We'll have to see how it shakes out, won't we George Potter: That shit gets in and waits. My theory is that it never goes away, not really. Speedy, a voice from the distant past on the sort of telephone that was science fiction when Jack first met him: Hidey-ho, Travelin' Jack . . . as one coppiceman to another, son, I think you ought to visit Chief Gilbertson's private bathroom. Right now. As one coppiceman to another, right. And most of all, over and over again, Judy Marshall: You don't just say, I'm lost and I don't know how to get back you keep on going . . . Yes, but keep on going where? Where? At last he gets up and goes out onto the porch with his pillow under his arm. The night is warm; in Norway Valley, where the fog was thin to begin with, the last remnants have now disappeared, blown away by a soft east wind. Jack hesitates, then goes on down the steps, naked except for his underwear. The porch is no good to him, though. It's where he found that hellish box with the sugar-packet stamps. He walks past his truck, past the bird hotel, and into the north field. Above him are a billion stars. Crickets hum softly in the grass. His fleeing path through the hay and timothy has disappeared, or maybe now he's entering the field in a different place. A little way in, he lies down on his back, puts the pillow under his head, and looks up at the stars. Just for a little while, he thinks. Just until all those ghost voices empty out of my head. Just for a little while. Thinking this, he begins to drowse. Thinking this, he goes over. Above his head, the pattern of the stars changes. He sees the new constellations form. What is that one, where the Big Dipper was a moment before? Is it the Sacred Opopanax? Perhaps it is. He hears a low, pleasant creaking sound and knows it's the windmill he saw when he flipped just this morning, a thousand years ago. He doesn't need to look at it to be sure, any more than he needs to look at where his house was and see that it has once more become a barn. Creak . . . creak . . . creak: vast wooden vanes turning in that same east wind. Only now the wind is infinitely sweeter, infinitely purer. Jack touches the waistband of his underpants and feels some rough weave. No Jockey shorts in this world. His pillow has changed, too. Foam has become goosedown, but it's still comfortable. More comfortable than ever, in truth. Sweet under his head. â€Å"I'll catch him, Speedy,† Jack Sawyer whispers up at the new shapes in the new stars. â€Å"At least I'll try.† He sleeps. When he awakens, it's early morning. The breeze is gone. In the direction from which it came, there's a bright orange line on the horizon the sun is on its way. He's stiff and his ass hurts and he's damp with dew, but he's rested. The steady, rhythmic creaking is gone, but that doesn't surprise him. He knew from the moment he opened his eyes that he's in Wisconsin again. And he knows something else: he can go back. Any time he wants. The real Coulee Country, the deep Coulee Country, is just a wish and a motion away. This fills him with joy and dread in equal parts. Jack gets up and barefoots back to the house with his pillow under his arm. He guesses it's about five in the morning. Another three hours' sleep will make him ready for anything. On the porch steps, he touches the cotton of his Jockey shorts. Although his skin is damp, the shorts are almost dry. Of course they are. For most of the hours he spent sleeping rough (as he spent so many nights that autumn when he was twelve), they weren't on him at all. They were somewhere else. â€Å"In the Land of Opopanax,† Jack says, and goes inside. Three minutes later he's asleep again, in his own bed. When he wakes at eight, with the sensible sun streaming in through his window, he could almost believe that his latest journey was a dream. But in his heart, he knows better.

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The Whiskey Rebellion 1791 - Essay Example Congress agreed and President Washington chose to appoint Henry Knox as the Secretary of War, Thomas Jefferson as the Secretary of State, and Alexander Hamilton as the Secretary of the Treasury. The appointment of Jefferson and Hamilton would later have a great impact as the two had conflicting views about the future role of the American government. It was Hamilton’s goal and responsibility as Treasurer in this new government to reduce or eliminate the massive debt incurred by the Revolutionary war. Hamilton was a very smart individual. He devised and implemented several strategies in order to reduce the national debt and provide stability to the American economy (Henretta †¦, n.d.). Overall, his policies worked very well and the nation prospered as the debt was paid down. However, his fiscal policies divided the government and the people into distinct groups with opposing political views, those who sided with Hamilton and those who supported Jefferson’s small government views. One of Hamilton’s policies included an excise tax on spirits in order to pay the interest on the national debt. This tax did not sit well with western Pennsylvania distillers whose main source of income was the production and sale of whiskey (Whiskey Rebellion, n.d.).

Rome and Epic Cinema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Rome and Epic Cinema - Essay Example Rome and Epic Cinema The depiction of ancient Rome in Hollywood films has often remained loyal to the description of these two civilizations provided by the scholars of the middle Ages. These two civilizations are often considered the golden age of European civilization and because of this, in many Hollywood films, only the positive aspects of them are displayed. In addition, when one considers the fact that the Roman Empire was based not only in the cities but also in the rural areas, since without the latter the empire would not have lasted for long. It seems that most film directors often avoid showing these areas, ignoring the fact that they were an integral part of the life of those times. In fact, Rome is often depicted the same way in almost all the films concerning it and this tends to be based on research concerning the life of the upper classes of Roman society. The Hollywood films tend to be united in depicting this civilization as having been extremely martial and it is only on rare occasions where one will not have a war or some sort of conflict resulting in bloodshed being depicted on the films (Wyke, 1997). Despite the fact that many Hollywood films try to show ancient Rome as having been the golden age of European civilization, in line with the beliefs of medieval scholars, one of the most accurate displays of these civilizations tends to be the institution of slavery. Slavery was an integral part of the lives of Ancient Rome and it is a fact that at least more than half of the populations of these civilizations was made up of slaves. ... There were unskilled slaves many of who had been condemned to slavery as punishment, or had been captured in war, and these were given very hard tasks to perform such as working on farms, in the mines or at mills and their living conditions tended to be very brutal and this made their life expectancy very low. It can therefore be said that slavery in ancient Rome was a part of its everyday life and that this institution is one of the core pillars, which kept this state running (Malamud, 2008). Many Hollywood films have remained loyal to the depictions of slavery in these ancient civilizations and in some cases, directors often go the extra mile to show just how much the slaves of these civilizations were treated. A most vivid description of this in current times has been in the television series Spartacus: Blood and Sand. In the Hollywood films, this civilization is often depicted as having been extremely martial not only at a national level but also at a domestic level. In ancient R ome, for example, one of the most praiseworthy forms of martial endeavors by the Rome that has often been depicted in films was that made by Julius Caesar during the wars that he made against the Gauls in his attempt to conquer them and bring them into the Roman Empire. In Rome, the martial feats of its citizens are often displayed through gladiatorial encounters and this is most accurately displayed in the film Gladiator. As depicted in the series Spartacus, slaves were acquired through the warfare made by its army, which always brought back captives in their hundreds and thousands from each war that they went to fight in. Many of these wars were wars of expansion in which the defeated enemies

London Olympics 2012 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

London Olympics 2012 - Essay Example This essay throws light on Olympics 2012, the history of Olympics, about London and the impact of this event on major stake holders in the host community. The researcher states that Olympic Games are one of the biggest international events. It features both summer and winter sports in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The games are held in every two years on even numbered years only. Summer and Winter Olympic games, alternate every next year which means that the seasonal games are held every four years. The 2012 Summer Olympics were held in London, that is England’s capital city. London was elected to be the host city for Olympics 2012 on 6th July 2005. Their rival competitors were Moscow, New York City, Madrid and Paris. At least 4 voting rounds took place. London was headed by the former Olympic Champion, Sebastian Coe. It is stated that London is a metropolitan city and is claimed to be the largest city of Britain, its history dates back to the Roman Empire. In the past it has hosted Olympics twice. Over the last couple of years, the scale and scope of the Games has grown enormously. It is now represented by every nation on the block. This has obviously given rise to other challenges such as boycotting, fixing, doping and even terrorism. Olympics provide citizens of different nations a chance to represent their country and attain international fame every two years. Even the host country is given the opportunity to promote itself to the world and project it in a good light.

Social Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Social Psychology - Essay Example There are also distortions in the type of research that is conducted by students in psychology because they only cover one age group and occupation. There are four interrogative themes in the social psychological world which include: power relations; situated knowledges; individual-society dualism; and agency-structure dualism. There are also four very critical social psychological perspectives which are cognitive social, discursive psychological, phenomenological and psychoanalytic perspectives. I will analyze how two of these perspectives work with and against a social psychological system and also provide a bit of a background on some psychological terms to ensure a clear understanding of the topic. Background and Body To keep a good head on our shoulders and stand strong, it is important to use the identity development technique of Erik Erikson which is to symbolize items we have left behind, symbolize items that we look forward to, have symbols of what we look above or up to, an d have items below us; what we have to the left and right is also important. In social psychology, there tends to be a dualistic viewpoint of either seeing the individual's perspective or that of society. These items are referred to as dichotomies. Individual society dualism and agency structure dualism are very important dichotomies in social psychology. Dichotomous thinking is deemed unhelpful according to social psychologists. Emotion is looked at in social psychology and refinements to the epistemology and ontology aspects in this subject are constantly being reviewed and developed. Dualisms lead to distortions when handled improperly by individual or groups. Dualisms must be minimized as much as possible in order to create a free individual and society. Verbal and non-verbal emotion are constantly being analyzed in order to best meet the needs of the individuals or society in an environment. Embodiment is another social psychological topic that is important. There are critiques on mind-body, individual-society, and agency structure dualisms in order to capture this term's requirements. In order to be strong we must strive to balance all of the above dualisms. Social psychology has only existed for about 100 years. Social psychology had been defined and it was founded in North America. Social psychology is defined as the study of an individual, either male or female, and how they are involved in their surroundings and environments. The social scientists did not want to reduce psychology to an individual or social basis which is what the individual-social dualism is all about. There are two kinds of social psychologies in the field. They are named psychological social psychology and sociological social psychology. Psychological social psychology is about the individual while sociological social psychology is macro. Both of these types of psychology were developed in North America like most concepts and definitions of social psychology. Many forms of social psychology exist to be critiqued in order to analyze and develop new theories to its already extensive structural base. The first world war created a lack luster attitude toward social psychology and by the time the second world war came about, it was in demand to find new ways to treat people and remove the racism for lesser thans in society. The second world wa

Formal Assignment #4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Formal Assignment #4 - Essay Example These changes relate to US demographics, including age, gender and ethnic composition. The changes in the labor market can affect both the native and immigrant populations. This paper discusses changes in the US labor market over the past few decades. The paper assumes that the same changes were in New York since it is part of US. One of the most important changes in New York and U.S. labor market is the increased labor force participation of women (Ricardo, Kristie and Michael 50). The past several decades recorded a steady increase in the number of women participating in the labor market. Since 1999, the labor-force participation rate of these women remained steady. Another important demographic change that is affecting the labor force is the evolution of the population’s age distribution. Over the past several years, age is playing an important role in determining labor force participation in New York as well the U.S. most of the working population belongs to the baby-boom generation (Ricardo, Kristie and Michael 53). These are people born between 1946 and 1964. However, this may have negative effects on the overall labor force participation rate since most of these people are growing older. The effect of age on the national economy may result from a reduction in the labor-force participation rate c aused by aging of the baby-boom generation. Racial and ethnic diversity of the U.S. population is another important demographic change that affects labor force participation. Ethnic diversity may be because of social, economic, or political factors. However, it is clear that this diversity affects the labor market in one way or another. Over the past two decades, there is a significant difference in labor force participation among different races. Between 1980 and 1990, the number of immigrant populations in the US labor market increased. The number of immigrant population employed was also very high. The number grew by about 50 percent during that

Cross cultural issues in international business Essay

Cross cultural issues in international business - Essay Example Intense competition at the global level therefore requires that firms should effectively manage their cross cultural team work most efficiently. Failure to do so may create more problems for the firms and may ultimately result into the downfall of the firms. It has been suggested that working in an environment which is diverse in nature pose significant challenges for the firms to overcome those obstacles and operate with same level of efficiency and competitiveness they usually perform with in their local markets. AB Volvo is a Swedish Manufacturer of trucks, buses, construction equipment and cars. It also offers marine systems and financial services in different markets thus diversifying itself at product as well as at market level. Being one of the well-known global brands for trucks, Volvo Track, its brand for trucks, has been setting a manufacturing plant in China. This paper will discuss and explore the cross cultural management issues for Volvo in Chinese market. VOLVO  œ A Brief Introduction AB Volvo is a Swedish Manufacturer of Trucks, buses and cars and has been operating in European market. It also offers financial services in markets where it operates thus have been diversifying itself into different products and markets. The company was officially formulated in 1927 when it rolled out its first car and since then has really transformed itself as one of the leading manufacturers of trucks in the world. It operates various business including Volvo Trucks, Mack Trucks, Renault, Volvo Construction Equipment, Financial services as well as other business segments. It has been manufacturing and exporting buses and trucks since 1930s and really became successful outside Sweden after the World War II. It has also been manufacturing marine engines and became one of the leading manufacturers of marine engines in the world. Over the period of time, the firm has either acquired new businesses or sold its existing business. Firm sold its car business back in 1999 to Ford Motors. This sell out was considered as necessary to refocus the firm’s business strategy on the production and marketing of commercial vehicles only. It has now proved itself as one of the leading manufacturers of Trucks and Buses at the global level. It has also decided to set up its manufacturing facilities in China with the aim to capture the Chinese market as well as set up the base to serve Asian market. Volvo in China China represents one of the most important markets for Volvo as it anticipates selling more trucks in the future in Chinese market. Though there are already other foreign and local players in the market however, the firm is expecting an increase in its sales of trucks in the Chinese market. Apart from the truck business, Volvo Cars have also been purchased by a Chinese manufacturer from Ford Motors Co however it has been hard for the Chinese firm to establish the factories and start the production on normal footings in order to get a footh old in the Chinese markets. China being culturally and linguistically different country however, also offers significant cross cultural management issues also. From managing employee relations, customer services to having relationship with the government officials, China pose a

How precious metals relate to the economy Research Paper

How precious metals relate to the economy - Research Paper Example While gold remains the most popular investment vehicle for investors, silver, platinum, and palladium continue to hold strong interest. This research paper focuses on how these precious metals relate to the American economy and examines the price of the dollar in relation to these metals. This essay describes the history of the Western economy and banking structure, that was originally linked to gold through the gold standard. At a time in history all currency produced was held to a standard reserve of gold in the country’s central bank. However, recent decades have gradually witnessed a shift from this economic structure. Today precious metals operate in large degree like a currency, as they are subject to market inflations and deflations. There are many motivations for the purchase or investment in precious metals. In this context of understanding, this research paper reveales that precious metals largely function as a hedge for investors against fiat currency and volatile markets. In addition the nature of the historic relation between gold and currency is examined in terms of the gold standard. It’s noted that supporters argue going off the gold standards creates greater government volatility, while detractors argue that going off the gold standard creates the potential for a welfare state. Ultimately, it’s clear that both historically and in the contemporary environment precious metals and the economy are greatly intertwined.

The Effect of the Internet on the Newspaper Industry Essay Example for Free

The Effect of the Internet on the Newspaper Industry Essay The Effect of the internet on The Newspaper Industry’s Revenue Introduction            The newspaper industry is of late facing financial crisis as a result of the rising competition facilitated by news outlet on the global network, that is, the internet. The internet has changes of how people choose to access information. In 2012 eight major American newspaper were declared bankrupt. Having roughly 1400 newspapers countrywide, approximately half of them will go out of business by the end of the next decade. In between 2002 and 2009, average print circulation went down by 14. 5 percent. Over 85 percent of the newspaper revenues are usually precipitated from their advertisement sales. However, among the newspapers with subsidiary websites, the get a mean less than 10 percent of these revenues from their own web based content (Kirchhoff, pp. 2-4). The prime challenge facing the newsprint media is their incapability to make a profitable transition to their web based platforms.            I will explore on the challenges that the newsprint media face as they struggle to make a profitable transition. I will offer possible strategies that the newspaper industry can utilize in a near future. It is of vital importance that the content should follow in line with what the medium demands in order to succeed in the current growing frontier of the distribution of news. The print media has been dragging by slowly embracing the new internet based technology and they are yet to flourish in stepping the line between ancient print content and interactive multi-media demanded by online readers. So as to stay at par in the future, the print media must adopt a more modern user interface and business model that will be viable in link with online advertising policy standards.            Generally, advertising revenues hold the vast majority of income for newspaper industry. Unfortunately, since print circulation have declined and quite a number of readers are moving onto the internet platform, the advert sales have not travelled the same path. In fact, in the 1st quarter of 2010 revenues declined by over 25 percent, while the Pew Institute gives estimations that half of this was as a result of financial crisis, it is very unlikely that they will heal. There are 2 types of advertisement by which the newspaper based industry earn income. One involve the corporate advertisers trying to market and sell their services and products, and the other is the ads placed in the classified area, car and junk sales, personals and help wanted. The issue with both of this advertisement types is that they have already evolved in the internet platform without a print media, and as many newspapers try to venture into online play, they are limited in capturing majorit y of these advertisers back, since they have already moved into more preferable efficient methods.            Corporate advertisement allow selling of services by advertisers to invest heavily on search engine based promotions, search as Google who offer ways for investors to advertise themselves. Instead of buying ancient banner, businesses can pay for their ads to emerge from search results each time related keywords are entered into the engine. Also if a potential customer types in men’s shoes, not only will a company’s ads will pop up in the search results, but also the ads will emerge in margins of other related sites that he or she will visit, provided the websites that have subscribed to Google advertisement sales platform. This platform is unique as it cannot be compared to any media including print media. Most advertising platforms are operated via software engines like Bing and Google. The predicaments that the newspaper industry face are on the news portal that this web platform sites run. They can post headlines from internet of major news organiz ation companies, followed by a small by-line, which are then associated with advertisement on web pages.            The news print media feels feel that this possesses a short hand for them in attracting potential sponsors. Portal administrators maintain that these links help bring thousands of readers to the news sites on daily basis. Nonetheless, the newspaper industry should understand that advertisement on the internet platform is not as static as the print media. Online ads are not only interactive, but also offer instantaneous results since one can locate an e-book of interest and purchase it right away by just clicking a link. In the web platform everything is temporary and the up upcoming trend in promotion of services and products is not a funny lie, but a reality. Newspapers should adapt trend and meld it into their interface and content, increasing hyperlink and ad-words, including move embedded streamed videos, and selling in return (Kirchhoff, pp. 8-12). The core reason why newspapers’ internet platforms are not viable is because most of the outlets taking me rits do not understand that they can maintain their information bur are required to review their form to translate to the age level of interactive message(Postman, p. 111).            Classifieds play a huge impact on the decreasing profits advertisings on the web pages of print media. Averagely, classified ads sum up to 50 percent of ad revenue in the outdated news print media (Kirchhoff, p. 8). Most of this ads have migrated online to sites built for this types of ads and almost all offer products free of charge. For instance, sites like monsterjobs.com for job offers, Zillow.com for real-estate, and popular of all craiglist.org, a global non-profit site that is broke down into thousands of localized boards, and include advertising for everything from dancing classes, to lost pets, to single ads, to auto sales, and to the help wanted. It is pretty impossible for the newspaper print media to gain back this market online so as to harness it to generate income. People worldwide are too trenched into new cost free medium of classified ads to get back into an antiquated payment for space system. Because this new revenues are all but lost the newspa per with an online presence will have to look for new ways to generate remarkable profits (Curran, 2010).            The web platform media has its original unique culture. A culture that is usually driven by the availability of infinite content that is free to access. The ability to access the internet is seen as a great equalizer, spreading across economic, social and geographical boundaries to connect with people globally like never before. The availability of web free content in websites result into paywalls or subscriptions being met with solid resistance, especially when that content can be accessed from different web pages with no cost. It becomes a hard concept to embrace in an outlet which is entirely based around subscription. While some organizations have been subjected to limited success with this methods, it is a link with a kind of hybrid-setup, which melds both web and print, for instance, the New York Times.            Set-ups on e-readers, smartphones, tablets and phablets, give a very promising concept. Persons who own such devices and read books and novels are used to purchasing in order to download print content. By building up a subscription system that models itself after this, the newspaper industry online has a chance. Of recent Newsweek completely switched all its production and is now exclusively on the internet, with both subscription and free based content. Majority of subscribers are now set up via their e-readers and buy magazines through brokers like Amazon, since their minds are set up to paying for downloads and less resistance to online news subscription.            Newspapers are now an example of traditional media outlets. Every document from the print out, to the fonts, to the arrangements and layouts evokes an old-fashionable visual image with the reader. However, this does not translate well to the web. While transitioning it is not enough to just cut and paste the whole content to a web platform page, the web developers, editors, and designer should adjust to the demands of potential consumers. The ancient method of advertising driven income should be discarded and new ways should be brainstormed in the industry. The only way the news print media can survive in this internet age will be to innovate within the internet culture and guide them to the new trend of stumbling along behind it. References Curran, J. (2010). The future of journalism. Journalism Studies, 11(4), 464-476. Retrieved Nov. 14th, 2014, from the Communication and Mass Media Complete database. Kirchhoff, S. (2010). The US newspaper industry in transition. Journal of Current Issues in Media and Telecommunications, 2(1), 27-51. Retrieved 14th Nov, 2014, from the Communication and Mass Media Complete database. Postman, N. (1985). Amusing ourselves to death: public discourse in the age of show business. New York: Viking. Source document

Globalization And Impact On Indian Banking Sector Finance Essay

Globalization And Impact On Indian Banking Sector Finance Essay INTRODUCTION PREVIEW This is an introduction chapter which describes the structure of the dissertation. It begins with a brief introduction to the area of research, purpose and aims and objectives set for this research. This section also includes justification for selecting banking sector to study the impact of globalization for this study. 1.2 INTRODUCTION A bank is a licensed body by the government which is primarily engaged in the process of borrowing and lending money which in turn helps in economic development of the country. The customers of a bank are mainly households government, public/ private corporations who invest and borrow funds from these institutions. Banks have a monopoly in creating credit in the market. If companies are provided with finance, it encourages enterprises which leads to increase in production, leads to promotion of jobs, less reliance on foreign imports. If personal customers are provided with finance it would stimulate the demand for goods which then leads to an in increase production of goods. Therefore banks play a very important role in the economic development of the country (Cox 1983, pg2-4). Initially there were many barriers in the banking sector through out the world. These were lack of information about foreign companies, tax liability which was applicable to income earned from these transactions, cost of executing international transactions were expensive. Regulations were eliminated in 1980s and early 1990s. Government allowed privatization in 1990. Government owned firms were sold to individuals, trading of stocks of firms was allowed publicly. This led to globalization, deregulation and liberalization. Under the influence of globalization Internet and telephone banking, ATM, credit and debit cards and many other services provided by the banking sector were introduced which has increased the efficiency of banks and has brought the banking revolution( Madura 1995, pg-7 ). Globalization has led to a revolution in the banking sector though Indian banks stiff face severe challenges . This study will highlight these challenges and the researcher will also suggests some of solutions found in the literature to overcome these challenges and will co-relate solutions found through primary research. This will help in understanding the Indian banking sector in dept. In addition to this if the Indian banking sector overcome these challenges it can mark its place with other leading global titans. 1.3 RESEARCH AREA To examine critically the impact of globalization on Indian banking sector highlighting the challenges faced by the Indian banks is the primary focus of this research. Since the days of Bretton Woods era financial world has witnessed tremendous changes. Technological change and cut throat competition has enforced the financial world to adopt better techniques and attract customers. The range of products and services were limited in the 70s(Raul 2005, pp 39). After gaining independence in 1947 Until 1991 there has been regulations like administered interest rates and government control etc. upon implementation of recommendations by Narsimha committee led to rapid and radical changes. Now the banking sector offers wide range of services like securitization, leasing and hire purchase, custodial service, depositories , factoring etc. New financial institution, dis-intermediation, greater professionalism and technological innovation have emerged as a result of liberalization, privatization and globalization. In addition to this capital adequacy norms, income recognition and assets classification were introduced in the ambit of banking activities and banks are compelled to cope up with the process of deregulation, competition, asset liability management and globalization(Raul 2005, pp 39). 1.4 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The main aim of this research work is to analyze critically and examine the concept of globalization and its impact on the Indian banking sector along with and challenges which arise as a result of globalization. The researcher also aims to find out the adverse effect of these challenges and what measures can be taken to reduce them. Research question A study on the impact of globalization on the Indian banking sector highlighting the challenges faced by the public sector banks in India. The main objectives of this research are as follows:- To examine the the challenges faced by the Indian public sector banks with regards to technology, human resource, customer service , NPAs. To analyze and explore the potential solutions to overcome these challenges. 1.5 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Indian banking sector is resilient and has shown tremendous growth yet it faces many challenges which needs to be controlled and managed. Recently there have been waves of bank failures throughout the world. Banks became insolvent due to which there was financial downturn globally. Banks are highly volatile in nature and have a direct impact on the economy of a country. So every country should aim to make their banking system stable and sound only then they will be able to withstand the shocks. Many changes have taken place in the Indian economy since 1990s that has revolutionized and revitalized the Indian economy. During this phase the key growth sectors and consumer demands have undergone a series of changes. The researcher is keen on investigating the impact of changes with respect to banking sector. India is a developing economy there lies many areas in the Indian banking sector to be explored also this is an untouched area in the UWIC. All the above mentioned points motivated the researcher to study in detail about the Indian banking sector, impact of globalization on it, and challenges arising as a result of globalization also highlighting potential solutions. This piece of work can provide guidance or a framework for other developing countries which are also facing similar challenges. Moreover ,The researcher is a permanent resident of India and would be able to gain access or conduct interviews of the bank managers to retrieve information which would further form a basis of research. 1.6 JUSTIFICATION FOR THE RESEARCH ROLE OF UBLIC SECTOR IN BANKING Anglo Saxon and Asian model are the two models of ownership by the banks. Many developed countries have adopted the Anglo Saxon model. Under this model the key decisions are taken by the top executives independently dictated by short term requirements and regulations may not be stringent .The latter model is adopted by many developing countries like India . India has a financial system which has substantial ownership by the public sector and has a different structure of incentives for the top executives. It is more likely that in this model where more complex products are involved there is less financial innovation . thus this sector is likely to be less efficient and less innovative but would be more steady. The advantage of this sector during the time of crisis is the perceived sovereign backing. While the former model during crisis came under pressure whereas the later model like the presence of public sector made the Indian financial system sound and stable. It was evident from t he fact that during 2oo8 and 2oo9 foreign and private sector banks NA ratio increased significantly and as an after effect of crisis , the public sectors NA ratio declined. It was lowest amongst all bank groups. For the Indian Banking sector , the public ownership has proved to be a source of strength rather than weakness. On the contrary to the belief that public ownership weakens the efficiency of a firm does not stand true in the case of the Indian banking sector. RBI organized an analytical exercise which indicates that cost and technical efficiency of the public sector banks have been much higher than private and foreign banks in India recently. Moreover public sector banks key role played by the banks is social development and to meet the objectives of developmental finance which is very essential for a developing economy like India. public ownership plays a significant role in the economic development of the country. (RBI 2OO7 2OO8 , pp 22 In addition to the above mentioned reasons the main motive of the researcher to highlight the challenges faced the public sector banks was because if these banks overcome their challenges they can mark a place for itself with the other leading banks. 1.7 STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY This dissertation is divided into five chapters which are as follows:- Chapter 1- This is an introductory chapter. It highlight the aims and objectives; purpose ; justification of the study. This chapter explains the structure/body of this dissertation . Chapter 2- This chapter forms a base/ platform for this dissertation. It consists of ideas and opinions put forward by scholars and different authors who have successfully researched on this field. The researcher has critically reviewed the literature also highlighted the key issues, ideas, arguments by different authors. This chapter mainly covers globalization , its characteristics, theory of globalization, Indian banking sector and challenges faced by the Indian banks. Chapter 3- Primary focus of this chapter is on the methodology adopted for this research. This will include the research design, data collection methods, research ethics, validity and reliability. It also includes limitations of this study. Chapter 4- This chapter explains the analysis of the data/information gathered . Interviews and questionnaires are critically analyzed to give a clear picture about the study. Chapter 5- The previous chapter of data analysis enabled the researcher to draw conclusions and provide recommendations which is described in this chapter, along with the research findings and research area which the researcher intends to cover and undertake next year after successful completion of this research. 1.8 SUMMARY This chapter explicitly explains the structure of this dissertation along with aims and objectives set up for the study by the researcher. It also explains about the research area, purpose and highlights the reason for selection of banking sector in Indian to study the impact of globalization.