Adam Aircraft

Adam Aircraft Introduction Adam Aircraft industries (AAI) is a company that was started by Rick Adam in 1998 (Hedberg and John). Rick Adam started the company out his love for aviation having been raised on Air Force bases. He always wanted to join the Air Force Academy flight program, but he was locked out because of his color-vision deficiency.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Adam Aircraft specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More After working in several organizations including the Air Force where he ran the Real Time Computer Center at the Kennedy Space Center, in the early 1990s he learned how to fly and this set him on the path to start AAI. As an entrepreneur, he noticed some of the challenges that were facing pilots and airplanes owners where they were using old planes and the new planes that were available were based on old designs from the 1970s and 1980s. Rick carried an analysis on the aircraft industry and noticed that th ere was a big opportunity that presented itself. He said: Every time I went to a cocktail party or barbeque, all the pilots would go off into a corner and start talking pilot stuff. And since everybody was moaning about the lack of new products, I became convinced that there was a huge demand. So in the 90’s I started developing strategies for launching a new aircraft company (Hedberg and John). His research on the industry saw him focus on issues that were affecting the industry and reasons why nobody was venturing into the business. After making his analysis and consolidating funds for the project, Rick started by employing some of the best work force in the aircraft industry and continually collaborated with the Federal Aviation Authority to create the first aircraft A500, which took its maiden flight in July 2002. The company displayed their aircraft model to potential customers in different shows and in October 2002, the company announced plans to introduce other aircraf t models. This paper will look at the problems that faced the company and the aircraft industry; solutions presented by the company and finally offer recommendations. Discussion Problems that faced the company and the aircraft industry The aircraft industry was facing a lot of trouble when Rick Adams began his venture. Between 1978 and 1992, the aviation industry had experienced a 95% decline in sales and many people over 100,000 had lost their jobs. In the same period, aircraft manufacturers had spent a lot of money trying to defend them after being sued for product liability.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Many aircraft manufacturers were closing shop and they were spending as much money as they had spent to develop new aircraft in these litigation processes. This was to change in 1994, when Congress enacted the General Aviation Revitalization Act, but the damage many aircraft manufacturers had suffered made potential investors skeptical about the industry. The enactment was meant to protect aircraft manufacturers from possible litigation if the plane in question was older than eighteen years (Hedberg and John). For the company, the greatest challenge was working with limited resources unlike their competitors who were working on huge budgets. Rick was self-funding and paying for most of the initial costs, while the Eclipse 500 project, a competitor, had over $400 million at its disposal to develop a light business jet (Hedberg and John). After listening to industry, experts Rick noted that he was going to face a lot of challenges in funding the project. He said: I had recently heard from an industry expert that the standard budget for a new airplane project is about $250 million. Since there has been so little success in this industry to date, it would be nearly impossible to raise that kind of money for a start up airplane company l ike ours. That’s a long way from $250 million, but still, we knew that the only way we could make financing achievable was by cutting development costs by at least seventy five percent (Hedberg and John). In his initial survey, John had noticed that many potential investors were weary of the aircraft manufacturing industry and would often opt to invest their money in biotechnology, telecommunications, and other industries that were regarded as safe. To compete with other established companies such as Lockheed, Cessna and Beechcraft, the company had to be innovate and this presented a challenge because some of the things they were proposing had not been done before and, therefore, ran the risk of being failures (Hedberg and John). The company had to prove also to detractors that they could actually pull off installing all the models on essentially the same airframe. According to the detractors, the company was being too ambitious and this was just wishful thinking. Critics fel t that by using the same single wing and empennage design would mean that performance by the planes made would be compromised (Hedberg and John). The company faced a challenge in getting the Type Certification from the FAA. The FAA is mandated to make sure that the airplanes manufactured by companies met certain requirements. This meant that the company, AAI, had to spend a lot of money and time to meet these specifications and test the products to the FAA specifications (Hedberg and John). The company had to come up with a design and an aircraft that was going to be appealing to both owner operated and professionally flown customers. This was a hard thing, because both customers had different needs and would mean sacrificing one aspect of the plane to satisfy needs of one type of customer at the expense of the other.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Adam Aircraft specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Solutions prese nted by the company The enactment of the General Aviation Revitalization Act in 1994, revitalized the aircraft industry that was facing a lot of problems because of cases filed against them. To complete the project successfully with the limited funding, the company addressed the cost that they expected to incur during development. This saw the company adopting new strategies including buying their own mill machine and adopting some of the latest technology available. This was meant to reduce the cost of development by over 75%. Rick hired the best work force in the industry that was knowledgeable about aircraft manufacturing and development. To reduce the time taken to develop the aircraft, the company instituted a 24-hour scheduling program, which Rick borrowed from his background in computer (Hedberg and John). This was important if the company was going to roll out a new aircraft design before competitors and therefore, establish themselves in the market. The company would also i ncrease its output as well as reduce the amount of time that is wasted. The company also benefited from the introduction of personal computers, which allowed them to carry out experiments and make designs changes at very low prices. Compared to their competitors such as Lockheed who had developed multimillion dollar design tools, the computer could spend as little as $3000 and still be able to make models of their aircrafts. The company realized that they could do virtually the same things as their competitors even though they had limited resources and all this was thanks to the advancement in technology and introduction of powerful personal computers and software. Although adoption of the 24-7 working concept was revolutionary in the industry, the company realized that it would not be enough to give them an edge over their competitors. To make the company more efficient the company adopted yet another concept from the computer industry that came to change the face of the aviation m anufacturing. PCs personal computers are developed around a common set of rules as to how the parts interact with each other. That way, you can change the keyboard, the disc drive, the screen, whatever you want, and it won’t tear up your memory or your software; that’s called modular architecture.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More There has been little progress in modular architecture in airplane-until now. We are building enormous modularity into our design so we can do things like move the wing location, modify the cabin size, change the power plants; all kind of things. What that means is that we will bring this first plane to certification status for about $50 million bucks. For another ten million, we’ll adjust the modules slightly and get a jet. For another five million we get a turbo prop (Hedberg and John). This move was very important because it would cut the costs incurred in modeling new aircrafts. To show to detractors that this was actually possible, the company tested the airframe on their â€Å"smart tunnel.† The â€Å"smart tunnel† allowed engineers in the company to shift the location of the wing along the fuselage without compromising on the center of gravity of the aircraft. The engineers were also able to modify the underlying airframe so that it could accommodate a wi de range of engine choices and configurations. This engineering move would also allow the company to leverage their research and development spending on at least three models of aircrafts (Hedberg and John). To meet the diverse needs of the clients, the company designed their aircrafts such that serviceability would be easy. One feature of the first aircraft they made, the A500, allowed access to the systems such that during inspections or replacement they could easily be accessed. A great deal of engineering work was done on the aircraft to reduce the amount of time that it would take to service the aircraft. The professionally flown market segment wanted a craft that would meet the needs of their customers. To them the most important thing was comfortability and baggage space. They also required planes that were pressurized so that they could fly over weather. This was different from the needs of owner-operated segment that focused on the performance of the aircraft. This segment looked at the handling capability of the plane and the electronic systems used in the aircraft. To meet the needs of these clients the company needed to design their aircrafts in a way performance of the planes was uncompromised and better than that of other aircraft manufacturers. When dealing with owner-operated customers John noted that, â€Å"Pilots are also hesitant to adopt something that is new. We are not Cessna, we are not Beechcraft and we are not piper. Those guys have been around forever, and they have built tons of planes† (Hedberg and John). With this comment, the company needed to distinguish their aircrafts from the rest. According to John, the unique design modularity would play an important role in meeting the needs of both customer segments. To avoid problems in the certification process the company worked hand in hand with the FAA. Throughout 2001, before the first A500 took its maiden flight, the company was visited by government officials and industry gr oups (Hedberg and John). This was important because the project would fail during the final period of certification if it did not invite government authority body to inspect its progress and the aircraft. SWOT Analysis of the Company Strengths The strengths of the company lie on its capable workforce and ability to adopt new technologies and operation concepts. From the inception of the company, Rick Adam sought to employ the best work force available. This has helped the company to meet its deadlines and deliver some of the best planes. The adoption of the 24-7 working program and using new technologies has helped reduce the cost and time taken in research and development. Weaknesses The major weakness of the company is limited resources. The company is working with limited funds and this can result to it not finishing the project or throw it into massive debts. The company is also very ambitious and its capability to fund its other projects may be hindered by lack of funds. Opport unities There are various opportunities that the company can exploit to their advantage. First, the company has been able to produce a plane at a very low price compared to their competitors. This means that it can use this to sell its aircraft cheaply, and therefore establish itself in the market. Another opportunity that can be exploited by the company is its capability to remodel its aircrafts to suit the customers need. This will help it meet various needs of different customers and therefore increase its sales. Threats The greatest threat that the company is facing is not being able to deliver both models, A500 and A700, on time. This threat is compounded by lack of funds, which can hinder the operations of the company. Another threat the company faces is that most of their proposal about using the same airframe for different aircraft models is in the experimental stages and may fail once tried. If it fails the company stands to lose a lot of time and funds invested. Recommenda tions The company should cut down on some of the projects it is taking and focus on delivering one product at a time. The company is taking on too many projects concurrently even though it has difficulty funding its project. Plans to introduce the A700 model should be put on hold, because the company has not yet completed the A500 project. The company runs the risk of being heavily indebted if it continues fund projects before it realizes profit from previous ventures. General Ideas The company should look for investors to avoid finding themselves at situations where projects are stalling, because of lack of funds. The company should do an analysis of which project is more lucrative, the A500 or the A700, and concentrate on one. Companies have been known to fail because of lack of funds or not specializing on one product. Diversity is good, but it should not compromise the ability of a company to deliver primary goods or products. From the case study, we do not see how the company p lans to market their aircrafts. What we see is that they have identified potential customers and even attempted to meet their needs. The company should formulate a comprehensive strategy to see that they do not only focus on manufacturing the aircrafts, but also selling them. The company can try to work with aircraft distributors who can help in marketing and distributing the aircrafts. Conclusion Adam Aircraft Industries has proven that even with limited funding, a project can be successful if planned well. The company has faced a lot of competition and problems, but the dedication of the funder and the employees has made the project a success. From the case study, we see that it is important for companies to embrace new technologies and concepts if they are going to be successful. The company has borrowed concepts from other industries that have helped it to grow and complete projects. The company also shows the need for companies to adopt a 24-7 working program so that they can m eet deadlines and avoid stall ups. The development of the company shows the need of investors to do thorough research on a product and identify what the client is looking for. Hedberg, Carl and John Hamilton. Adam Aircraft. Babson College: San Francisco, 2004. Print.

Social Structure

Social Structure Soc100-125Topic: Social StructureIn order for us to understand why sociological theories could be classified into 'consensus' and 'conflict' perspectives it may be best to first define these concepts. Consensus is a concept of society in which the absence of conflict is seen as the equilibrium state of society based on a general or widespread agreement among all members of a particular society. Conflict can be overt or covert, stemming from the range of possible differentiations.Conflict theory emphasizes those conflicts inherent to human society [Jary Jary, 2000:105]. Its discourse is the emergence and causes of conflict within a particular human society. Some say that conflict theory deals with the incompatible aspects of human society.Emerging from the sociology of social order and social stability/social regulation, consensus theory is a sociological perspective in which social order and stability/social regulation form the base of emphasis. It is concerned with the maintenance or continuation of social order in society; in relation to the norms, values, rules and regulations that are widely or collectively accepted within a particular society.Emile DurkheimBoth consensus and conflict sociological theories are reflected in the works of certain dominant social theorists. Classical social theorists such as Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber as well as other prominent social theorists such as Talcott Parsons Robert Merton, Louis Althusser Ralph Dahrendorf, Herbert Mead Herbert Blumer. The conflict and consensus perspectives of sociological theories have been divided into four categories or four paradigms (frames of reference) in which human beings see the world. On the conflict perspective we have the Radical Humanism paradigm the Radical Structuralism paradigm. On the consensus perspective we have Interpretive Sociology (Structural) Functionalism/Systems Analysis. Each of the classical and modern social theorists (and their theories) above are slot ted into...

The Pursuit of a MBA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Pursuit of a MBA - Essay Example In his book ‘Managers Not MBAs’, Henry Mintzberg (2004) mentioned that, despite the fact that the MBA is regarded as the ‘education for management’, it actually prepares the ‘wrong people in the wrong ways with the wrong consequences’. One of the major reasons for such criticisms is that the MBA programme gives too much of importance on the management theories while ignoring the need to develop the practical expertise. This leads to an imbalance in the supply and demand of proficient managers in the context of real scenario, opposed to theoretical knowledge. Pfeffer & Fong (2002) questioned the lack of repositioning of the MBA model over the years and discussed that a number of interpersonal and social skills required in the current corporate world cannot be developed through an MBA programme. The authors stated that the fact that the individuals graduating from the most elite MBA programs realized the maximum salary packages is due to the fact that these individuals were chosen by their institutes on the foundation of their competences and qualifications which were way better than the average. Thus, it could be inferred that the personal characteristics of the candidates are more important than what is being taught in the MBA programme. This explanation is consistent with the verity that the curricula of majority of the MBA programmes and the course books utilized are extremely analogous across business schools of different statures. Thus, it can be concluded that there are no significant distinctions in the knowledge being imparted in the different MBA programmes. Nonetheless, the individuals undertaking MBA generally benefit in terms of both intrinsic as well as extrinsic aspects of career development and success. A few of the aspects enhanced by taking up an MBA are confidence, credibility, social status and remuneration among others. The MBA degree prepares the candidates with a perceptive of the variety and miscellan y that they would gradually deal with in their place of work. This enables the individuals to discover the principles, values and conducts suitable for that environment. Moreover, MBA degree is believed to develop the skills necessary in the process of information investigation, interpretation of data as well as the proficiency in taking up new endeavors. Furthermore, the MBA programme also enhances the presentation as well as negotiation ability and the social interaction capability of an individual. The MBA classrooms are the sites of vigorous discussion and arguments amongst the students; the involvement of individuals in such a vibrant atmosphere reinforces their aptitude to investigate, converse, convince, and reach agreement while integrating diverse viewpoints. Thus, on the whole, the MBA programme is linked with attributes for swift career progression. Sturges & Et. Al. (2003) identified that the major result of the MBA programme in addition to enhanced self-assurance, was t he evolution of the ‘knowing why’ and the ‘knowing how’ career proficiencies in the candidates, which are highly esteemed in the management world. In the assessment of changes in terms of management role and function as well as income levels of individuals prior and post their MBA degree,

Compare the Ways the British and French Ruled Their Respective Essay

Compare the Ways the British and French Ruled Their Respective Mandates. What Are Some of Their Legacies in the Region Today - Essay Example The British and French rule in the Middle East A look into history proves that before the 1st World War, Britain and France were rivals in nature and were worried about the increasing influence of each other in the Arab and African region (Brainard, 2004). While the British developed a north-south axis of power, to balance the equation, the French developed a firm east-west axis of power. However, as both of them realized the benefits of supporting mutual interests, they came together by the beginning of the 20th century through assisting Suez Canal construction by Egypt, the Sykes-Picot agreement and the alliance in the First World War. The period thereafter witnessed a considerable change in the strategy adopted by both. They decided to divide the Middle East into a large number of countries. This helped them balance the power without conflict, and also, it ensured that they could continue their exploitation without considerable amount of opposition from the territories. Similariti es and dissimilarities between he French and British rule in the Middle East Evidently, both the British and the French tried to rule their own regions through established elites, though the British seemed more willing to move their mandates ahead and towards a better qualified form of independence, and the only exception in this connection is Palestine (‘Iraq: Initial contacts with the British’). In Palestine, for the first time in British history, it had to end its rule without establishing a government behind it. In other words, one can say that the British only wanted protectorates and mandates like Egypt and Palestine as permitted by the League of Nations. So, the British allowed the territories under its rule to have their own domestic political policies though the British continued their military bases and controlled their foreign policies. This is evident in the case of Egypt and Iraq. For example, though the British got support from the Arabs in its campaign ag ainst the Ottomans starting in Basra, the British soon realized the fact that the Arabs would not support them in the long term. Though 1919 saw the British getting the responsibility to administer the area from the League of Nations, soon they found widespread unrest and rebellion, and they realized the fact that the only way to bring the situation under control was to make a puppet government, and the victim selected for the purpose was Hashemite ruler Faysal as it was thought that being a descendant from Prophet Muhammed, he would be accepted by all factions. In addition, as he was not from Iraq, it was thought that he would not feel confident enough to rule without the help of the British. The strategy worked out and there were a number of treaties ensuring proper flow of oil and total control of the regimes affairs. Almost a similar picture one can see in the case of Egypt too. Though the British allowed monarchs to rule Egypt, the period after the construction of Suez Canal (1 859-69) saw the British dethroning Ismail, and it was followed by widespread resentment against the foreign domination. So, the British had to capture the control Egypt again, and thus made a protectorate. Later on,

Budgetary planning and control and the evaluation of performance Essay

Budgetary planning and control and the evaluation of performance - Essay Example It represents a plan for the future expressed in formal, measurable terms. (Botner, Stanley, 1991). To be helpful, a budget must be prepared in sufficient detail to inform all levels of management of the exact expectations. It is not sufficient to establish a personnel budget for an institution and limit the detail to a statement of the overall number of employees. This serves no purpose except, perhaps, as part of a summary. Rather, a personnel budget should detail the quantities and types of full-time equivalents by department or cost center, perhaps by shift or by workstation. It should detail the salaries to be paid and the components, including routine, overtime, shift pay, cost of living or merit increases, and so on. All positions -- vacant and otherwise -- should be included in the budget. To assemble the quantity of data necessary to support a detailed plan, a matrix organization of rows and columns is essential. The matrix allows a significant amount of information to be displayed in an orderly manner and a limited amount of space. If organized properly, interrelationshi ps can easily be seen, the data can be viewed and understood quickly, and the chance of arithmetic error can be reduced or eliminated. Figures 1-1 and 1-2 display two such matrix-style worksheets for a nursing department's personnel budget in computer spreadsheet form. One other advantage of a matrix-style worksheet is that it can help guard against errors of omission by specifying certain data to be collected in a particular set of columns or rows. Rather than calculate a salary budget and mistakenly omit "charge pay" or other premium payments, the worksheet can be set up in advance and require that information about these premiums be included for use in the calculations. In order to minimize the chance of leaving something out, it is best to set up budget spreadsheets well in advance of the actual budget preparation schedule and carefully consider actual data requirements. Remember that because computer spreadsheets can hold so much data, it is better to err on the side of collecting too much, rather than too little, data. (Klay, Earle, 2003) Personnel resources that pose a particular problem in terms of recruitment and/or retention can also be dealt with in the budget by inclusion of a recruitment plan, a budgetary emphasis on human resource development and training, or Figure 1-1 XYZ Memorial Hospital Nursing Budget -- Salaries, Fiscal Year 19XX Personnel 2 2 3 3 4 Class North South North South North Total Head Nurse Charge Nurse Clinical Specialist RN - II RN - I LPN Nursing Aide Unit clerk Total This matrix organization allows the salary data for five nursing units to be aggregated and displayed in such a way that the dollar amounts by type for each nursing unit can be compared easily with those for the other four units. The dollar values are added both down and across; and since the total from the rows must equal the total from the columns, the chance of arithmetic error is reduced or eliminated. Figure 1-2 XYZ Memorial Hospital Nursing Budget-FTEs and Salaries, Fiscal

Effect of Foreign Aid on Economic Growth in Developing Areas

Effect of Foreign Aid on Economic Growth in Developing Areas The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) defines foreign aid as financial flows, technical support, and goods that are intended to encourage economic growth and wellbeing. Foreign aid is generally linked with authorized development support which in turn is a division of the official development finance, and usually given to the poorest countries (World Bank, 1998) (TAB 1). Various debates about the usefulness of foreign aid dates back decades. Milton Friedman, Peter Bauer, and William Easterly are critics that have given tough reviews, ranging from the decreased impact aid has on government bureaucracies, propagated bad governments, enriched the selected few in poor countries, or wasted. They lay emphasis on extensive poverty in Africa and South Asia despite over thirty years of aid directed to these countries still having a devastating record, e.g. the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, and Somalia. In their opinion aid programs should be significantly transformed, considerably managed, or eradicated (PAPER 1). Other researchers oppose these arguments, although partly correct but over emphasised. Jeffrey Sachs, Joseph Stiglitz, Nicholas Stern and others have argued that even though aid has from time to time failed, it has reduced poverty and enhanced growth in some countries and discouraged worse outcome in other countries. They consider the weaknesses of aid to be linked with donors rather than receivers, and identified a couple of successful countries that have received significant aid such as Botswana, Indonesia, Korea, and, more recently, Tanzania and Mozambique, together with thriving ideas such as the Green Revolution, the crusade against river blindness, and the introduction of oral rehydration therapy (PAPER 1). Review by Papanek (1973) disagreed with the negative outcome of Griffin and Enos (1970) that by not adding capital flow to foreign aid and other inflows, a significantly positive aid coefficient can be achieved. In contrast, using a sample of 22 Less Developed Countries 1956-1968, Voivodas (1973) achieved an insignificant negative aid impact on growth. This early periods can be characterised with poor quality of data thereby causing ambiguity in their results(TAB 5). More recently, Knack (2000) debates that an increase in foreign aid increases corruption, rent-seeking and corrodes institutional quality thus having an adverse effect on growth. However, with better data, Dowling and Hiemenz (1983) used the pooled data for 13 Asian countries to test for impact of aid on growth and discovered a significantly positive relationship. In their research, they controlled for certain policy variables like government intervention and trade. While Levy (1988) considered Sub-Saharan Africa and also achieved a significantly positive correlation haven used a regression model with income per capita and aid as a ratio of GDP for 1968-1982(TAB 5). Using 41 countries 1986-1992, Hadjimichael et al. (1995) discovered a positive aid-growth relationship. More recently, Burnside and Dollar (1997) used a model with various policy variables and learnt that aid alone does not directly influence growth in LDCs but when policy variables interact with aid will have a significant impact on economic growth (World Bank, 1998) (TAB 1). The potential side effects of foreign aid as well as certain policy variables were captured in the above mentioned models thus making them slightly more sophisticated than previous research. These studies can be criticised in many ways. Boone (1996) disagrees with the positive aid-growth relationship, stating that aid has no effect on both investment and income growth in LDCs (tab 5). While Easterly, Levine and Roodman (2003) used a higher sample size to reanalyse Burnside and Dollars review, thereby finding that the coefficients of the result is not as significant(TAB 1). Similarly, the most mentioned criticism is the poorly defined growth model where researchers growth model may ignore certain economic activities that would have enabled a more sophisticated empirical growth model in which aid would be a reliable growth factor (TAB 5). An example is Gupta (1975) and Gupta and Islam (1983) who discovered that the negative effect of foreign capital can be reversed if indirect effects were incorporated. On the other hand, Mosley (1980) found a negative (although not significant) correlation in aid and growth haven used a simultaneous equation model. He however, found a positive correlation in the case of LDCs in his sample but in total concludes that his analysis is incomplete. A major shortcoming of the previous research is the deficiency in the growth models. Most of which identify capital accumulation alone as a growth factor but others have thoroughly considered the problem of sufficient model requirement. Mosley (1987) and Dowling and Hiemenz (1983) considered variables representing trade and government activities, while Burnside and Dollar (1997) and Hadjimichael et al. (1995) used macroeconomic variables in their growth model. In contrast, reviews on determinants of growth in LDCs do not consider the effect of aid rather it includes only variables of total savings and investment (Fischer, 1991, 1993; Easterly, 1993; Barro and Sala-i-Martin, 1995) (TAB 5). On the whole, the aid-growth relationship can be considered to be full of loopholes and should be further researched. Sample countries regions should be considered as it influences economic growth but has been ignored in economic growth analysis (Gallup, Sachs and Mellinger, 1999)(TAB 1). This study will revolve round impact of aid on growth in intensification on the growth model: the Fischer-Easterly model (Fischer, 1991, 1993; Easterly, 1993). The model will concentrate on macroeconomic policies which encompass the total framework of the aid-growth relationship as argued earlier that aid only increases growth in the presence of sound economic policies in recipient countries (TAB 5). The model specification will be further broken down to include policy variables as well as all key investment sources (domestic savings, foreign aid, private and other inflows) (TAB 5). This study will also strive to surmount past criticism of aid-growth models by applying a cross-section econometric te chnique to a large sample size(50 developing countries) over a long period (1980-2005) (TAB 5). RESEARCH QUESTIONS: Does foreign aid have a positive impact on economic growth across developing countries? Does foreign aid have a diminishing return as volume of aid increases? Does foreign aid have a diminishing return as volume of aid increases? To test for Hypothesis: H0: that foreign aid induces economic growth H1: that foreign aid does not induce economic growth RESEARCH STRATEGY METHODOLOGY: The research will be highly empirical with the use of secondary data obtained from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund database. The use of Cross Section techniques and the Augmented Fischer-Easterly model in order to control for macroeconomic stability/instability and policy distortions. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: The data trend in foreign capital flow to 50 developing countries (number of countries may reduce due to unavailability of data) between 1980- 2005 will be analysed. These figures will be in nominal rates to avoid appropriate deflator problems. MODEL SPECIFICATION: Cross section techniques will be used to examine the impact of the data averaging through 1980-2005 and for comparism with previous research. The model will take the form: The study is aimed at making a major contribution to the empirical argument on the capability of foreign aid to induce economic growth in developing countries. The Augmented Fischer-Easterly growth model will be used where macroeconomic variables and foreign aid as well as other financial investment sources are considered in calculating economic growth. (TAB 5).

Health Care :: social issues

Health Care Within the health care arena there is a growing concern about the needs of the elderly. Families wonder if their loved ones are getting the proper care that they need With the growing costs of health care and the decreasing resources of primary care physicians it is feared that only the physical needs of the patient are met. Concerns rise about the social psychological and environmental needs or the elderly. A study by Barbara Berkman and associates tries to provide some answers to people concerned with this issue According to the study many people are not aware of the social services they may have available to them. Because of this, many elderly people are not getting the care they need outside of the physical care necessary to "live." It is felt that screening a patient for social or emotional needs is becoming increasingly important. The focus of this study was to devise a questionnaire to identify the psychological, social and environmental needs of elderly patients. Three hospitals from different geographic locations were chosen for this study. At each hospital a care coordinator was chosen to be responsible for questionnaire review, communication with physicians, and further assessment and intervention when deemed necessary. Lists of patients 65 and older were generated from the caseloads of primary care physicians from the three hospital sites. The questionnaires were mailed out with physicians cover letters and consent forms in the summer of 1993. In the questionnaire patients were asked to assess their self-percieved notions of there medical and psychosocial needs, as well as the level of their functioning. Upon reciept of the completed questionnaires the care coordinators from each hospital assess the results of the survey. Those patients assessed as being high risk received follow up phone calls. Depending on the situation, high risk patients were given information only, indirect referrals, or direct referrals. The findings for the study indicate that approximately 56% of all people surveyed were in need of intervention. The three highest relative risks for all three sights were: difficulty with food preparation, difficulty in doing house work, and difficulty getting around the home. All three hospital settings agree that patients who reported having problems in the survey were judged to need intervention more than those who did not report having problems. Although the study had good intentions, I feel the study was unclear in its objectives. The study was to design an assessment tool that would identify the psychosocial and environmental needs of elderly patients.