Patterns in Foreign Direct Investment

Patterns in Foreign Direct Investment

Patterns in Foreign Direct Investment – One of the greatest phenomena that the era of globalization has witnessed is that of rising Foreign Direct Investment. With technological advancements, end of the cold war and the boom witnessed in the financial services sector, we see firms increasingly looking towards foreign shores to establish their interests and thus boost profitability. Simply put, Foreign Direct Investment is the act of making an investment on part of a company in a business in another country. This paper will discuss the merits and faults of FDI and the role that it plays in the calculus of global business.

There are three forms of foreign direct investment. Firstly, the firm may acquire stocks in a host country’s company or may form an affiliate of sorts. This is a rather complex form of FDI. A simpler form is where the company simply reinvests the profits of the affiliate in the host country. Finally, the third method is where the companies raise capital through stock market in the host country.

In today’s world, a company can transform through an evolutionary process. Ohmae (1990) described the stages of evolution as early internationalization, exporting, production, complete and true globalization. Basically, the firm goes from using agents for export to setting up shop in the host country until the point where the company becomes truly global. In many cases, this process is sped up by the use of FDI, which is a wonderful miracle for the businesses of today.

Why a company may turn to FDI can be explained by a number of motives. Dunning (1993) identifies 4 primary reasons. Firstly, it could be to attain access to resources that may not be available in the home country. Secondly, FDI could be a tool to gain access to untapped markets with massive potential. Usually, alternatives to FDI such as exporting and licensing may face trade barriers or challenges such as monopoly laws, customs restriction and high tariffs. By using FDI, companies can avoid all such issues. A third reason for opting for FDI could be that it allows greater efficiency. The country being invested in may have low-cost labor or raw material or may provide low-cost manufacturing. Finally, FDI may be a tool for acquiring strategic assets. Often, in markets where there is rising monopolistic or oligopolistic behavior, firms can turn towards FDI to protect themselves in such harsh business environments. They may acquire certain assets, build specific capabilities or establish themselves in certain markets by using FDI, all for the simple reason of protecting the business against oligopolies.

It is important to first understand the nature of MNCs and how they integrate. When a company acquires or combines with another company that is producing a similar product which happens to be at the same stage of production as that of the company itself, we call such a company as horizontally integrated MNC. The motivation behind such an integration may be to diversify risk or lower costs. On the other hand, vertically integrated MNCs are such that acquire or merge with a company that is involved in a different stage of production for the same product as that of the company. An example could be that of an oil marketing company acquiring an oil drilling company. An entirely different type of MNC is that called Conglomerate MNC. It occurs when a company acquires or merges with another company that is producing a different product.

Another important distinction to understand is in that of the multiple kinds of investments and the purposes that they serve. Firstly, Brownfield Venture means an investment that is intended to improve the existing capacity or efficiency. In contrast, a Greenfield Venture means an investment that results in the construction of a new establishment or plant in the country where the investment is being made.

Foreign Direct Investment trends are often hard to identify and it is even more difficult to pin down the underlying factors that cause such trends. A recurring theme, however, has been that of the effect that global recessions and financial market meltdowns have on the FDI trends. As is evident from figure 1, FDI understandably fell after the 2008 recession. Slowly, global economies have been getting back on their feet but it is curious to note that FDI inflows to developed economies has generally followed a downward trend.

Developing Countries and Patterns in Foreign Direct Investment

In contrast, the developing economies have seen a rise in FDI, albeit at a slow rate and with many fluctuations. To further argue this point, author argues that “Notably, the high-wage differential between West Europe and Asia has been the most significant factor contributing to the restructuring of US FDI during 1981–2000” and that “Populous countries such as China and India have been further liberalizing their economies and improving infrastructure” (Sethi et al 2003, p.325).

Figure 2 shows data for year 2015 identifying the countries that attracted the greatest FDI inflow. The United States leads it all the way followed by China and Netherlands. While this data confirms the understanding that the US and Western Europe continue to be the recipients of most of the FDI, it must be noted that China, India and Brazil also receive a considerable amount of the FDI which shows the rise of what is called the ‘BRICS’ bloc.

Foreign Direct Investment Inflow
Foreign Direct Investment Inflow

Table 1 identifies huge growth in the FDI inflows for developed countries and developing Asia. Quite curiously, it may be noted that the inflows to Africa and Latina America actually fell.

Patterns in Foreign Direct Investment
Patterns in Foreign Direct Investment

 Following the same trend, Cross-border mergers also grew enormously for developed countries. While on the subject of developing Asia, it will be pertinent to consider the trends in FDI specific to this region, given the fact that it is rising to play an increasingly important role in global economy. The ASEAN Investment Report 2016 notes a number of interesting observations.

It identifies the close relationship between USA and this region in the following words: “South-East Asia is host to the largest number of United States companies in Asia, with over 1,500 companies operating in ASEAN. Some 70 per cent of the 130 United States MNEs listed in the Global Fortune 500 in 2015 are present in the region. United States FDI stock in ASEAN has risen sharply in recent years, from $50 billion in 2000 to $226 billion in 2014”.

Sources of Foreign Direct Investment Finance
Sources of Foreign Direct Investment Finance

The report also indicated that while FDI flows declined in 2015 as compared to 2014, “FDI in manufacturing rose, equity capital financing of FDI activities was at an all-time high, and regional investment expansion by MNEs remained strong” (The ASEAN Secretariat xiv, 2016). Finally, the form of FDI that was most popular continued to be equity investment as is evident from figure 1.4.

Developing Asia has enormous influence with regards to the inflow of FDI in these economies. A UNCTAD identifies that “developing economies saw their FDI reaching a new high of US$741 billion, 5% higher than in 2014. Developing Asia, with its FDI flows surpassing half a trillion US dollars, remained the largest FDI recipient region in the world, accounting for one third of global FDI flows” (Global Investment Trends Monitor). Having said that, the same report concludes that while FDIs have indeed increased, there is little constructive impact on the global economy because there is little Greenfield investment. Overall, a slowing global economy and fragile geopolitical scenarios are making analysts all over the world issue grim outlook regarding the FDI flows globally.

It is appropriate to discuss the structural variations that have been noted in FDI. Primary and manufacturing sectors have been involved in increasingly lesser FDI flow while the service sector has been on the rise. This has multiple implications because services, unlike manufactured goods, cannot be stored and sold later. This is why we see that service industry firms are increasingly establishing outfits/branches in other countries, often at heavy costs.

The reason why such firms are willing to bear these costs is because globalization offers greater payoff in the long term as getting established in multiple markets allows these firms to attract a greater number of customers. Furthermore, many economies in the world have been moving towards deregulation which has also boosted service trade. A point to be noted here is that the rise of nationalism can certainly hurt FDI as politicians with ‘protectionist’ agenda are voted to power.

To understand FDI patterns, it is also important to consider the several theories regarding this topic. One theory presented by Raymond Vernon suggests that FDI really depends upon the product lifecycle. What this basically means is that there is a period of growth which stimulates production both at home and abroad. Soon, the foreign production becomes competitive which marks the beginning of the maturity stage in the cycle. This competition then seeps into the domestic market thus leading to a decline in sales. This is the product lifecycle theory.

The International Production theory which basically states that a firm considering foreign investment is likely to be swayed by the attractions presented by the home country relative to those provided in the country which is under consideration for investment. A number of economists have presented arguments against this theory citing the relatively recent patterns noted globally. A key argument is that while the theory would suggest that businesses should move to developing countries since they provide a cost advantage, the actual pattern is quite opposite because businesses are moving to developed countries to take benefit from the greater market opportunities in those economies.

Another curious business behavior is explained by the oligopolistic theory. This theory says that when one major firm of an industry moves abroad, its competitors feel obliged to copy the behavior. This may be done with a motivation to prevent the competitor from tapping into an unexplored market. While this doesn’t necessarily explain why a business might move to a developed country, some economists suggest that in a lot of cases, firms are simply copying each other in moving to developed countries.

Internalization theory talks about controlling activities in the intermediate market and bridging the gaps in the various stages of production by moving into new markets. What this means that a company may use its subsidiaries to attain raw materials for its primary concern. It is curious to note that while this theory may hint towards a Greenfield pattern with regards to manufacturing companies, the reality is quite different as such firms have stayed away from investing in developing countries.

Patterns in Foreign Direct Investment Theory

Another interesting theory is the market imperfection theory. What this basically means is that a company’s decision to invest in foreign economies may be motivated by a variety of factors. This includes its competencies and capabilities that are unique to the company and not shared by any of its competitors. There exists great information asymmetry especially with regards to the relationship between exchange rates and its impact on FDI. This can cause variations in the cost of external financing as compared to internal financing.

A very important theory to consider is the OLI eclectic paradigm which was developed by John Dunning. He argued for the benefits of FDI as compared to exporting or licensing. His argument was that if a firm is to involve itself in profitable FDI, it must have 3 advantages: ownership-specific, location-specific and internalization. The first one is self-explanatory; FDI cannot be successful until the firm undertaking it has a competitive advantage in form of a tangible asset e.g., manpower, capital.

It may also have an advantage in intangible assets such as knowledge, access to markets. The second advantage is location-specific which means that the country being invested into must have an advantage as a location such as infrastructure, natural resources, government incentives etc. Finally, internalization is necessary otherwise the firm may as well simply hire a firm in the other country to do the task. Internalization is basically a tool to exploit the market imperfections in price.

While these theories are important to understand, what is even more crucial is the effect FDI can have on the country receiving all the investment. Some of the more obvious benefits include greater employment, tax revenue generation, transfer of technology and other spillover effects. A more subtle effect can be increase of competition which makes markets more efficient thus ultimately helping the consumers.

Disadvantages include the fact that the firms investing in a country are usually large MNCs which have greater market power than local firms engaged in the same industry. Thus, greater FDI could really hurt local business. In some cases, FDI can also adversely affect the balance of payments. This happens when the investing firm imports its capital from abroad. Finally, there is the feeling of the economy being high jacked by powerful MNCs. Many consumer protection groups thus argue that FDI can hurt the local consumer and national interest in the long run.

In conclusion, it may be argued that while FDI has its merit, the current global outlook does not seem too hospitable for such form of investment. While unemployment and terrorism have allowed the rise of nationalist governments in most of the western civilization, it can lead to decreased FDI in the less developed countries. Governments may pressurize companies to invest within the country rather than taking the business to a low-cost country.

This will not only reduce FDI, it will also reduce efficiency and may contribute towards abject poverty and a whole host of other problems for the developing nations. Increasing concerns over China and its overheating economy will also have implications for investors’ investment behavior and it will be curious to watch whether the concerns over China’s alleged credit bubble have any effect on FDI patterns globally.

Works Cited

Sethi, D et al. “Trends and Patterns in Foreign Direct Investment Flows: A Theoretical And Empirical Analysis”. Journal of International Business Studies 34.4 (2003): 315-326. Web. 12 Jan. 2017.

Ohmae, Kenichi, The Borderless World; Power and Strategy in the Global Marketplace, London: Harper Collins, 1990

The ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN Investment Report 2016 – Foreign Direct Investment and MSME Linkages. ASEAN Secretariat and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2016. Print.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Global Investment Trends Monitor. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2016. Print. No.22.

Relevant Patterns in Foreign Direct Investment Research

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) In Bulgaria Dissertation

Competitive Dynamics in Emerging Markets: The Case of China’s FDI Inflows

Impact of FDI from Developing Countries to Developed Countries

Where Can I Find Finance Dissertations

Question: What other patterns in foreign direct investment have you encountered that have not been covered in this post? Feel free to leave a comment below

Law Enforcement Models of Police Behavior Essay

Law Enforcement Philosophies, Psychological Theories, Models of Police Behavior, Policing Styles Concerning the Individual Officer, And Stress Associated with The Life of a Police Officer

Law enforcement is an essential activity in the society that is used as a means to supervise human behavior and to ascertain that the laws and the regulations that have been set by the society are not only adhered to but are also followed. The enforcement of this law assumes many forms, which include statutes, ordinances, regulations, zoning laws and codes of administration among others.

Policing is a subset of the enforcement of law that deals with the process of regulation of the law enforcement function. Law enforcement and policing borrow from the philosophies of legal, public policy, systems, and global perspectives. These perspectives are all interrelated and tend to occur in association. Enforcing the law is not an easy task. It requires the exhibition of certain behaviors that are based on the personality of the officer. Additionally, it exposes them to numerous stresses, both physical and psychological.

Background Information

Law enforcement is a fundamental process and means through which human behavior is supervised in a formal way to ascertain that the laws and the regulations that have been set by the society are not only adhered to but are also followed. It is also a formal way of ensuring that the society has a given level of stability and security to enable its members to carry on with their daily livelihoods.

The enforcement of this law assumes many forms, which include statutes, ordinances, regulations, zoning laws and codes of administration among others. This form of enforcements of the law are authorized in a legal manner through the philosophy of police powers. These powers refer to the lawful authority that is accorded to the government through voting by the citizens to enact the laws and regulations with respect to the health, morals, welfare, and the safety of the people in the society (Alpert, 2015).

These powers are performed by different levels of the government within the United States of America, and entails the formulation and the regulation of the water and sewer systems, systems for transportation and highways, systems for monetary regulation, fire protection, medical and healthcare systems, parks and recreational areas, an assistance that is general to the individuals who are deprived economically, among others. The implication of these is that the police powers accord authority to the agencies in charge of law enforcement to act on behalf of the citizens.

The law enforcement process, as mentioned earlier is a formal process whose sanctioning comes through voting by the citizens, in representative democracies such as the one in the United States of America. In such democracies, there exists three arms of the government and the law enforcement role is given to the executive arm of this government.

The executive arm comprise of the President whom is the head of the federal government, the governor, who is the executive head of the state level of government, and the mayor who is the executive head of the local government. Through voting, citizens give these heads and their representatives the authority and power to appoint officials of law enforcement, and to establish philosophies and policies that are general with respect to the manner in which law enforcement operates in the nation (Alpert, 2015).

The other arms of the government are not left out either. They have the ability to influence either directly or indirectly the law enforcement function of this executive arm. The legislative arm of government accords the necessary authority that is statutory upon which the activities of the law enforcement officials are dependent.

This authority entails their right to lawfully use varying degrees of force to attain the goals and the objectives of law enforcement. It also defines the behaviors that when demonstrated in a particular setting are deemed to be criminal in nature. The judiciary on the other hand performs the role of reviewing the actions executed by the officials of law enforcement based on the rules that have been established through the constitution, civil law, evidence, and criminal procedures (Alpert, 2015).

Such reviews are carried out during the proceedings of the judiciary, which may entail evidence hearings, criminal and civil trials. Through these reviews, the judiciary provides the general idea of how law enforcement should be carried out in a specific context (Alpert, 2015).

Law enforcement and policing are concepts that are interrelated. It is therefore important to understand their relationship. While law enforcement, as a function, is carried out by all levels of government and enforced through regulations, codes of administration, and laws in relation to the welfare, safety, and health of the society, policing is a subset of the enforcement of law that deals with the process of regulation of this law enforcement function (Alpert, 2015).

Policing is observed by the activities of the criminal justice system that deals with the criminal detection, followed by investigation, and the prosecution. It also deals with prevention of criminal activities (Alpert, 2015). The activity of policing in the United States is carried out by policing agencies at all the three levels of government. At the federal level, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) is in charge. At the state level, the state police, highway patrols, and the criminal investigations units carry out policing. At the local level, the local police departments, offices of the sheriffs, campus police among others do the policing (Alpert, 2015).   

Philosophies of Law Enforcement

There are four concepts that have been used as founding philosophies for law enforcement. These are the legal approach, the public policy approach, the systems theory approach, and the global approach (Conser, Paynich, & Gingerich, 2013).

The Legal Approach

This philosophy operates on the overall idea of “the law is the law”. It is a philosophy in which human behavior is viewed from a perspective that is rule-based, in which obedience and respect to the law is a mandatory requirement and obligation of every person within the society, and that the law is the common guide to behavior. This approach is often used by those who strongly advocate for the control of crime through severe punishment for those who commit infractions (Conser, Paynich, & Gingerich, 2013).

In this particular approach to law enforcement, the law enforcement officials are put in a position that is awkward based on their swearing to protect the laws of both the nation and their state. These officials recognize that a strict enforcement of the law would see so many people getting arrested or even be summoned for breaking any of the laws.

Thus, they are made to assess carefully every human behavior based on the “letter” and the “spirit” of the law (Conser, Paynich, & Gingerich, 2013). If every aspect of the letter of the law is adhered to by these officials, it implies that anyone who violates any of the laws will call the police intervention. If they adhere to the spirit of the law on the other hand, it implies that the officers will consider certain contextual factors that influence human behavior, and which may lead one to breaking the law.

In this case, certain laws may go without being enforced in their entirety and certain violations may call for informal handling such as verbal reprimands or even warnings. Others may go without any police intervention (Conser, Paynich, & Gingerich, 2013).

The process of evaluation, as outlined above, forces the enforcers of the law to utilize both selective enforcement and their discretion. Discretion refers to the process in which the officer makes a decision to use one alternative from among numerous other viable alternatives. This form of decision making is not provided for by the law but is acknowledged by both the judiciary and the profession.

The understanding that supports this acknowledgement, and that has revolutionized the current legal approach to law enforcement is that the police cannot enforce all the laws and regulations that have been enacted. Thus, selective enforcement, which is a product of discretion, allows the law enforcing officials to enforce specific laws in different contexts based on their assessment of situation, or the priorities that the agency in which they belong have (Conser, Paynich, & Gingerich, 2013).

The above is contrary to the concept of full enforcement, which is part of this approach. Full enforcement entails the enforcement of all the laws regardless of the situation or context. In an ideal situation, this is neither practical nor possible. This kind of enforcement is often given as a justification by the officials when they intervene in situations like those dealing with gang offenses, drugs, gun violence or offenses of the traffic (Conser, Paynich, & Gingerich, 2013).

The above said, existing empirical evidence has failed to support this philosophy of law enforcement because they have not demonstrated that through the passing and the enforcement of all criminal laws, all social problems in the society can be solved as this approach suggests (Conser, Paynich, & Gingerich, 2013).

Public Policy Approach

This philosophy comprises of the rules and regulations established by various legislative bodies and the law enforcement agencies. In this philosophy, the social ills of the society are identified and a solution is formulated in the form of either a law or a regulation.

For instance, if they it is proven that domestic violence is the cause of separations in families and violent behavior in children, a bill can be passed into law that places a severe punishment to all facilitators of domestic violence in order to safeguard the family unit and protect children from such scenes. Additionally, policies can also be formulated to address issues of public concerns with respect to their welfare, safety, and health (Conser, Paynich, & Gingerich, 2013).

As such, this philosophy has been fundamental in contemporary teaching of law enforcement due to its dynamic approach. This is because it has allowed law enforcement to not only be concerned but also to be proactive in handling of community challenge. It has allowed the enforcers of the law to carry out interventions that are suitable for a particular problem at a particular time.

Additionally, it has allowed the collaboration between the community, legislative bodies, and the officials of law enforcement, and in the process increased accountability and transparency (Conser, Paynich, & Gingerich, 2013).

The formal role of making these public policies has been the function of the executive arm of the government, with the help of the legislative arm that enacts them. The police chief, sheriff, or the head of the police department on the other hand have been the final authority when it comes to enforcing the policies.

However, according to this philosophy, public policies have to follow the set protocols and involve the necessary internal procedures and issues of management, legal influences, and the political requirements (Conser, Paynich, & Gingerich, 2013).

Law Enforcement and Policing Essay
Law Enforcement and Policing Essay

Systems Approach

In the systems philosophy, the whole environment in which a social issue lies is viewed with the aim of analyzing how the forces and influences in this context contribute to the social concern. In this case, law enforcement is viewed in terms of the impact the environment it operates in has over its effectiveness (Adderley, 2013).

By considering law enforcement through this philosophy, law enforcers are able to consider the impact and the influence other factors of the environment have in the society. They are also able to understand impact their decisions have, and the probable implications of the resulting actions on other functions within the community. It therefore considers the formal and informal social controls, economic factors, social influences, and politics, and the role they play in commission of crime and enforcement of the law (Adderley, 2013).

Global Approach

This is an extension of the systems perspective discussed above. However, it differs from the systems approach in that in this philosophy, law enforcement is administered with the consideration of not only the local environmental factor within the society but also world events and the influences that international relations have on the nation’s health, welfare and safety.

In this case, law enforcement is dependent on the security and stability of other countries that any nation has direct or indirect ties with (Conser, Paynich, & Gingerich, 2013).

Psychological theory of Law Enforcement

Social psychologists from the early years of 1950s believed that alternatives for utilizing instrumental approach in enforcing the law existed. They demonstrated this through studies like “Why people Obey the Law” that such alternatives were not effective in the enforcing of authority that was legal but also in attaining compliance with the requirements of the law when compared with instrumental mechanisms in numerous settings within the society (Tyler, Goff, & MacCoun, 2015). This gave birth to the psychological theory in law enforcement (Tyler, Goff, & MacCoun, 2015).

According to proponents of this theory, the behavior of an individual is determined by the level of their belief or disbelief in the appropriateness of deferring to the authorities that enforce the law (Tyler, Goff, & MacCoun, 2015).

This belief is etched on legitimacy, in which individuals in a society believe that the people who are in power are worthy of ruling over them and making decisions that can directly or indirectly influence the manner in which they live and co-exist in a society. Thus, this belief accords the people the ability to decide whether to obey the law and the enforcers of the law (Tyler, Goff, & MacCoun, 2015).

The aim of legal authorities, including the police and the courts, and the law itself is legitimate in the face of the members of the society to be able to enforce the law. They should be in a position to make the citizens believe in the power and the rule of the law, and in the individual upon which the responsibility of ensuring that the law is respected, obeyed, and enforced is bestowed.  

Models of Police Behavior

The Authoritarian Model

Theorists, between the years of 1960s and 1970s, believed that the use or misuse of power by a police officer was based on their personalities that took after authoritarianism that predisposed them to the use of force. They defined authoritarianism as a group of beliefs that encompassed a strong devotion to values that were both conventional and associated with the middle class.

The police officers with this personality tend to think in a rigid manner, are less flexible; tend to identify themselves with powerful people in the society, and value public exhibition of toughness and strength (Sarver & Miller, 2014).

The Police Culture Model

The proponents of this model believe that the behavior exhibited by any police officer is related to their culture that pressures them to have views regarding policing that are similar. For instance, this culture requires them to be suspicious, isolated from those that they consider outsiders, and portray loyalty that is considered extreme towards their colleagues.

While evidence does not exist to support the claim that these aspects comprise police culture, they have significantly influenced the behavior of police officers (Chan, 1996).

Policing Style and Law Enforcement

Research studies and most of the literature published on the styles of policing have described three main styles in law enforcement. These include the watchman style, the legalistic style, and the service style (Zhao & Hassell, 2005). The watchman style of policing is founded on maintaining order within the society.

In this style, the police officer assesses the violations made through the examination of consequences that are both personal and immediate for the offense one has committed rather than considering the legal aspect of that offense. They utilize maximum possible discretion through this style and the aim is to maintain peace within the community (Zhao & Hassell, 2005).

The legalistic style on the other hand focuses on a stringent enforcement of the rule of law. Police officers using this style have been shown to make the highest number of traffic citations and arrests. Most of the calls they receive are handled formally through the making of an arrest or the making of a formal complaint (Zhao & Hassell, 2005).

The final style of policing is that of service. In this style, priority is given to all forms of assistance that the public needs with regards to maintaining law, order, and safety without giving preference to strict adherence to law enforcement as per the legalistic style or maintenance of order as per the watchman style.

This implies that service style is the bridge where the two extremes of policing meet. It however, just like in watchman style, allows the police officer to exercise a certain level of discretion (Zhao & Hassell, 2005).

Stress Associated with The Life of a Police Officer

Stress often forms part of everyone’s life. However, police stress is special as it describes the pressures that are negative, which are associated with the work of enforcing the law (Garbarino, Cuomo, Chiorri, & Magnavita, 2013). Police officers get exposed on a daily basis to the negative sides of human being. Pain, indecency, dealing with suspicion, and at times handling hostile situations such as public unrest and riots often takes a toll of these officers, subjecting them to an immense level of stress (Garbarino, Cuomo, Chiorri, & Magnavita, 2013).

The stresses that police officers are subjected to can be categorised into four groups. These include those that are inherent in their work, those that arise internally due to the policies and practices of their department, those that are external due to the society and criminal justice system, and the internal stresses that the individual officer confronts (Garbarino, Cuomo, Chiorri, & Magnavita, 2013).

The police officer also gets stressed from the threats they encounter to their safety, the safety of their family, and their health. They are also subjected to boredom and an alternation of alertness and the need for mobilized energy that comes suddenly with the continual arrival of new cases that require their attention. Such anxiety coupled with the responsibility the public has given them of ensuring lives are protected confer a significant amount of stress on them (Garbarino, Cuomo, Chiorri, & Magnavita, 2013).

Conclusion

Law enforcement provides means that are formal for the supervision of human behavior. This supervision ascertains that the laws and the regulations that guide the society are adhered to and are followed. It is fundamental in ensuring that the society has a given level of stability and security to enable its members to carry on with their daily livelihoods.

It is done at all levels of government and ensures that the health, security, and safety of people is maintained. Policing is a subset of the enforcement of laws that deals with the manner in which law enforcement is done. These two concepts are based on numerous philosophies and the style of policing, which can be watchman, service, or legalistic in nature. Also, policing and police work is not an easy task as it subjects those involved to numerous stresses that are either physical or psychological.

References

Adderley, P. S. (2013). Criminal Network Analysis inside Law Enforcement Agencies: A Data-Mining System Approach under the National Intelligence Model. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 15(4), 323 – 337.

Alpert, R. G. (2015). Critical Issues in policing: Contemporary Readings (7th ed.). Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press Inc.

Chan, J. (1996). Changing Police Culture. The British Journal of Criminology, 36(1), 109–134.

Conser, J. A., Paynich, R., & Gingerich, a. T. (2013). Law Enforcement in the United States. Jones & Bartlett.

Garbarino, S., Cuomo, G., Chiorri, C., & Magnavita, N. (2013). Association of work-related stress with mental health problems in a special police force unit. BMJ Open, 3, e002791.

Sarver, M. B., & Miller, a. H. (2014). Police chief leadership: styles and effectiveness. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, 37(1).

Tyler, T. R., Goff, P. A., & MacCoun, a. R. (2015). The Impact of Psychological Science on Policing in the United States: Procedural Justice, Legitimacy, and Effective Law Enforcement. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 16(3), 75-109.

Zhao, J. “., & Hassell, a. K. (2005). Policing Styles and Organizational Priorities: Retesting Wilson’s Theory of Local Political Culture. Police Quarterly, 8(4), 411-430.

Relevant Law Enforcement Posts

Black Lives Matter and Police Brutality in the United States

Sociology Dissertations

Did you find any useful knowledge relating to law enforcement and policing in this post? What are the key facts that grabbed your attention? Let us know in the comments. Thank you.

Hedge Funds Pitch Consulting Assignment

Hedge Funds Pitch Consulting Assignment

United Nations Pension Fund (UNPF) Brief History

According to UNPF, a Hedge fund was first created by Alfred Winslow Jones in 1949, where he combined several characteristics that define hedge funds even in today’s business environment. In this view, Alfred Winslow Jones sold short-term stocks as he projected a decline in price while acquiring more long-term stock that expected price increase by using leverage to purchase these additional funds.

Alfred Winslow Jones avoided the Investment Company Act 1940 requirements by creating a limited partnership with 99 investors (Lieberman, 2018). As a result, Jones took 20% of the profits generated from the ‘hedge fund’ and charged management fees of the fund that saw several imitators use the model, especially the limited partnership structure and management fee as proposed by Jones.

Thus, Hedge funds seek to address the inefficiencies in the market. UNPF has four types of hedge funds: long-short equity, macro, fixed-income arbitrage, and event-driven hedge fund (Hartley, 2019).

Status of the Hedge Funds Industry

In today’s business environment, the hedge fund industry has not performed well for the last decade, with more positive projections expected in 2021 (Ellen & Li, 2022). In the current state, the hedge funds continue to grow, but they continue to adapt to greater use of technology in their operations, lower management fees, and enhanced access to retail investors.

For instance, 50 hedge funds produced over 24% gains in 2020 while the S&P 500 generated about 18.40% gain with collectively 5-year net returns of 14.81%, while the S&P 500 had an annual return of 15.22%. In this view, the hedge fund industry’s return over 2020 was 6.41% which shows that the industry is doing well based on the prevailing economic conditions resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic (Ellen & Li, 2022).

The hedge fund performance in the last decade has not been rewarding, but it has managed to record impressive performance, and its growth and performance are expected to continue ballooning in 2022, which will fuel significant change in the next decade.

Pros and Cons of Hedge Funds

Flexibility

Compared to Mutual funds, hedge funds are articulated as more flexible as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does not focus or concern itself on hedge funds (Ellen & Li, 2022). In this view, hedge funds are not traded publicly, making them flexible as there are no regulations that regulate the performance of hedge funds. Additionally, hedge funding may adopt strategies such as short-term selling, leverage investment, and derivatives across several investments without limitations or regulations (Hartley, 2019).

Hence, through shorting or short selling, hedge funding can gain profits from the declining price of a security, a stock, or a bond in the market. Thus, hedge funds are flexible as investors could take advantage of the declining price and adopt shorting to make profits as the gain in the rise of price in their investment option.

Good Performance

Based on the current status of hedge funds and the S&P 500, hedge funds have a promising trend in 2022 compared to other investment options (Ellen & Li, 2022). With the hedge fund’s aggressive investment strategy, investors can gain higher returns based on the fund’s investment strategies, including short selling, leverage buying, and use of derivatives in its operations.

Hedge funding often perform better in the market as it does not have market uncertainty as other investments. It allows fund managers to short sell for declining prices, borrow to invest, or leverage busying and derivative use (Jorion, 2021). Therefore, hedge funds have a sustainable competitive advantage compared to other investments that are not flexible and high regulated with SEC compared to hedge funding activity.

Diversification

With the highly volatile investment markets, hedge funding offer investors an opportunity to add diversification and significantly reduce risk in the investment options. As diversification investment, hedge funding articulated long/short strategy, tactical trading, and event-driven that offer investors a positive investment portfolio (Hartley, 2019).

As a result, hedge fund managers can reduce risks, allowing investors to obtain instant diversification in the market’s investment portfolio. Thus, hedge funds offer their investors’ instance diversification, reducing risks associated with the bond market and conventional equity.

Hedge Fund Fees

For managers to operate a hedge fund for the investor, there is a fee structure referred to as ‘2 and 20’, which can be expensive in the long run. In the structure, investors have to pay a 2% management fee for a 20% fund manager hedge fund; usually, a performance fee of profits gained in a year (Jorion, 2021). Therefore, hedge fund fees are costly in the investment strategies as with or without profits; one has to pay 2% as a management fee and give up 20% of the total profits made from an investment.

Hedge Funds are Less Liquid

The concentration investment strategy of hedge funds exposes the funds to huge losses compared to mutual funds. In this context, investors often lock up money for a year, which leads to significant losses if they happen. The use of leverage strategy further increases the risk involved with hedge funds as an investment strategy as the borrowed money if a failure occurs in hedge fund transaction, it could be a double loss (Hartley, 2019).

Therefore, hedge funds are considered long-term investment options that require investors to lock up vast sums of money for a year or more in anticipation of good returns, which is not always the case.

Based on the current state of the hedge fund industry, especially in the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, risk reduction benefits in stocks or bonds allow a significant reduction of overall portfolio risk in the market. The concept of surplus optimization in the hedge funds minimizes the expected shortfall (SF) with a ten-year asset portfolio (Ellen & Li, 2022).

As a result, 7% of the pension percentage of the pension fund should be allocated to hedge funds as a strategic investment option in minimizing risk investment portfolios in the market. With a hedge allocation of 2%, the improved SF is about 1% while the extreme loss is at 5%; in the same context, a hedge fund allocation of 7% improved SF expected is close to 5%, while its extreme loss probability is at 12% (Jorion, 2021). Therefore, allocating a 7% pension fund to hedge is effective as it minimizes risks with an investment option of stock and bond hedge fund strategies.

Successful managers such as Chris Hohn’s TCI or Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater associates provide better opportunities for the pension allocation to the hedge fund to be a success and enhance profit marking. To effectively understand hedge fund in this context, the basic structure of the hedge fund doctrine should be adhered to for better hedge fund returns. One of the critical operational issues that hedge fund allocation face is the flexibility of unregulated that makes its investment portfolio in the pension fund (Ellen & Li, 2022). For UNPF to build a hedge fund allocation, it should consider the pension’s users in its operations.

Hedge Funds Finance Assignment
Hedge Fund Pitch Finance Assignment

Second And Separate from The Above

To effectively invest the $50,000,000 on two hedge funds for the period of five-year lockup, first, it’s essential to establish the two hedge funds as limited partners to enhance the flexibility of the funds from the regulations of SEC in their operations. It is essential to understand the 2 and 20 rule in managing these hedge funds as the returns will be viewed on an annual basis, which means that 2% management fee of these two hedge funds and 20% for profits gained in the investment portfolio.

I propose a short/long hedge fund strategy in the investment portfolio to allow flexibility to withdraw the money if something truly catastrophic happens. Second, we need to consider the hedge fund structure or model that will entail; the fund, which is the entity holding the securities where an investor participated. The fund allocation needs to consider the general partner for the hedge, the fund responsible for day-to-day operation, and the fund’s investment manager (Student).

The available investment capital of $50,000,000 will be invested in two hedge funds, including credit-focused hedge funds with convertible bonds with two choices:

  1. Issue 25MM shares at $10; however, it is essential to note that share price could decline, let’s say $47; as a result, the return of the investment could be: $25MM*$47=1.175B
  2. Issue the 5-year lockup debt as 5%, resulting in an interest cost =$50MM*5=$250MM annually that will translate to 1B or refinancing over the first 5years.

To maximize the returns on the hedge funds, the fund should adopt the ‘Multi-Strategy Hedge Funds.’ The Multi-strategy hedge funds offer the hedge fund a number of benefits including; multiple strategies within one fund, developing over time (5-year lockup), having attractive returns with low volatility, and enhancing capital allocation its returns can be muted. However, the Multi-strategy funds have one limitation: they require chasing hot trends/ideas that may not yield many returns for the investment portfolio.

With the multi-strategy hedge funding, the management fee will be 1.4% and 16% for the profits gained annually based on the current state of the hedge fund industry, which is promising compared to the last decade and is performing better than the S&P 500. Additionally, the five-year lockup offers the easy management of the hedge fund as I can use multiple strategies within one fund, enhancing the working conditions.

While hedge fund management is not a new phenomenon in the investment market, to effectively acquire ten employees with consultancy services sort from the best hedge fund managers, including but not limited to: Chris Hohn’s TCI or Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates. As this is a short/long hedge fund, there will be no modeling after the existing one as the 50MM hedge funds are aimed at the 5-year lockup. The multi-strategy hedge funds are longer-term investments caused by attractive returns with low volatility.

I am uniquely qualified for this opportunity as I am hungry for knowledge with exceptional knowledge on hedge funding and hedge fund strategies. I will effectively execute the task while learning from the best hedge fund managers in the industry, such as Chris Hohn’s TCI or Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates.

References

Ellen He, Y. and Li, T., 2022. Social Networks and Hedge Fund Activism. Review of Finance.

Hartley, J.S., 2019. Liquid Alternative Mutual Funds versus Hedge Funds: Returns, Risk Factors, and Diversification. The Journal of Alternative Investments22(1), pp.37-56.

Jorion, P., 2021. Hedge Funds and Financial Misreporting. The Oxford Handbook of Hedge Funds, p.393.

Lieberman, D.L., 2018. Hedge Funding and Impact Investing: Considerations for Institutional Investors. The Journal of Investing27(2), pp.47-55.

Relevant Hedge Funds Posts

Finance Dissertation Titles

Corporate Finance and Governance

Did you find any useful knowledge relating to hedge funds in this post? What are the key facts that grabbed your attention? Let us know in the comments. Thank you.

Ten Tips For Your Dissertation

Ten Tips For Your Dissertation

Ten Tips For Your Dissertation – This post focuses on ten tips for your dissertation, and using them will help you in writing your own dissertation and to support you in its successful completion. The below ten tips cover the planning, analyzing and presentation stages of the dissertation project itself. Your dissertation is an exciting and fulfilling challenge and should not be seen as daunting in any way. Trust me, once you start writing you will not stop, and you will complete your first 10,000 words in no time.

Ten useful tips for writing your dissertation

1. Analyse the question, again and again, make sure you are answering the questions you have deployed in your dissertation research

2. Plan your dissertation – Planning your workload will help you get your dissertation done on time. Make a plan, be realistic and try stick to it

3. Keep sentences short and straightforward. By keeping your sentences concise but meaningful, you will lessen the chances of grammatical and punctuation errors

4. Take care with spelling, particularly subject specific words if you are not sure how to spell a word, check a dictionary

5. Only include one argument or point of information per paragraph, this will make your work easier to read, digest and understand

6. Do not include any new information in your conclusions, the conclusions of your work should draw only upon what has already been written in your dissertation. If there is new information to be presented, it should be included in the main body of your dissertation

7. Ensure all information is correctly referenced. Any ideas you have taken from others, whether quoted directly, paraphrased or summarized, must be referenced

8. Keep it Interesting and Relevant – To try to keep the reader engaged and to make them read on

9. Check your dissertation brief for any specific format requirements – if specific format requirements have been set, i.e. for line-spacing or font, then you must adhere to them. Have this clarified by your dissertation supervisor. You do not want a lesser grade due to an oversight with the formatting

10. Proofread your work – Proofreading is such an important step, get a colleague or family member to proof read your dissertation and listen to any constructive feedback

Writing a dissertation is an enjoyable challenge!

My final piece of advice on the this topic is to keep the dissertation milestones at the forefront of your thoughts. Always keep track of the project duration and never exceed the deadline. Arranging regular meetings with your dissertation supervisor are a must to help keep you on track should you find yourself going off track.

Ten Tips For Your Dissertation
Ten Tips For Your Dissertation

Dissertations or theses are typically required of graduate students. Once completed, the dissertation or thesis is often submitted (with modifications) as a manuscript for publication in a scholarly journal.

Thus, the dissertation or thesis often provides the foundation for a new researcher’s body of published work. Writers will first want to determine whether the work in their dissertation or thesis merits publication. If it does, we then provide guidance on how to adapt a dissertation or thesis for submission to a journal.

Deciding To Submit a Dissertation or Thesis for Publication

When deciding to publish the work in a dissertation or thesis, it is important to consider whether the findings tell a compelling story or answer important questions. Whereas dissertations and theses may present existing knowledge in conjunction with new work, published research should make a novel contribution to the literature.

For example, some of your original research questions might be suitable for publication, and others may have been sufficiently addressed in the literature already. Likewise, some of your results may warrant additional analyses that could help answer the research questions more fully, and you may want to conduct these analyses before seeking publication.

You may also want to consider such factors as whether the current sample size provides sufficient power to adequately inform the analyses and whether additional analyses might clarify ambiguous findings. Consultation with colleagues can help evaluate the potential of the manuscript for publication as well as the selection of an appropriate journal to which to submit it.

Ten Tips For Your Dissertation – Adapting A Dissertation or Thesis for Publication

Once a decision is made to convert your dissertation or thesis into a manuscript for submission to a journal, you will want to focus attention on adapting it for publication. By attending to brevity and focus, writing style, relevant literature review and data analyses, and appropriate interpretation of the results or findings, you can enhance the fit of your manuscript for journal publication.

Editors and reviewers readily recognize an article that has been hastily converted; careful attention when reformatting the dissertation or thesis is likely to increase the manuscript’s potential for serious consideration and eventual publication. There are several steps writers seeking to prepare their dissertation or thesis for publication can take beforehand:

1 – Look at articles in the field and in relevant journals to see what structure and focus are appropriate for their work and how they are formatted.

2 – Request and consider the input of advisors, colleagues, or other coauthors who contributed to the research on which the dissertation or thesis is based.

The original research reported in a dissertation and thesis can then be reformatted for journal submission following one of two general strategies: the multiple-paper strategy or the conversion strategy

Dissertation Relevant Posts

Avoiding Plagiarism

Dissertation About Us

If you enjoyed reading this post on writing tips for your dissertation, I would be very grateful if you could help spread this knowledge by emailing this post to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter or Facebook. Thank you.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Avoiding Plagiarism

A brief guide on avoiding plagiarism for students – It is vitally important to understand that a good dissertation involves the evaluation, synthesis and analysis of the work of others and that this is presented in a way that a reader can refer to the original sources. There is no doubt that you would have used existing academic matter in your dissertation to aid your literature review, analysis and findings sections.

With the dissertation you will have to adopt the correct referencing or citation in order to avoid plagiarism. “Many people think of plagiarism as copying another’s work, or borrowing someone else’s original ideas. But terms like “copying” and “borrowing” can disguise the seriousness of the offense” (http://www.plagiarism.org)

Who cares if I plagiarize?… You should!

If you use an author’s specific word or words, you must place those words within quotation marks and you must credit the source. Also, if you use your own words, if you obtained the information or ideas you are presenting from a source, you must document the source.

There are fundamental reasons why you should not plagiarize:

Plagiarism is simply stealing: stealing other people’s work, words and ideas. It is morally no better than stealing a car, or anything else. If someone stole your words and ideas, think how you’d feel.

Plagiarism represents information illiteracy. What does that mean? It means if you have to plagiarize, clearly, you are incapable of researching and assimilating your own thoughts and ideas. You are effectively illiterate when it comes to handling information. What you should be aiming for instead is information literacy.

Information Literacy is: “is knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner“. (Source: Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals)

Most common forms of plagiarism

  1. Copy directly from another source without presenting it as a quote or providing a reference
  2. Use ideas from another source without providing a reference
  3. Use too many words from another source when paraphrasing
  4. Submit someone else’s work or ideas as your own
  5. Include a diagram, image or data table from another source without providing a reference

How can you avoid plagiarism?
In many cases, students who find themselves accused of plagiarizing often have done so unintentionally. Poor organisation and time management, as well as a failure to understand good academic practice, are often to blame. You might therefore find it helpful to note the following points:

  • Manage your time and plan your work – ensure that you have enough time to prepare, read and write
  • When paraphrasing an author’s text, ensure that you use your own words and a sentence structure sufficiently different from the original text
  • In your notes, highlight in colour/bold any direct quotations you want to use in your assignment – this will help to ensure you use quotation marks with an appropriate reference when you are writing up your work
  • Allow enough time to check your final draft for possible referencing errors or omissions: for example, check that all your in-text citations have a corresponding entry in your reference list, and vice versa
  • Save all your notes, files, printouts and so on until you receive your final mark or grade. (Source: http://www.palgrave.com)

Avoiding plagiarism and quotations

Plagiarism is fraudulent stealing and may lead to serious consequences like imprisonment in the when exercised (Hu et al., 2015). Plagiarism can put human lives at risk and wide spread of illness in medical research field. The world today would not be where it is if plagiarism was not declared illegality hence giving room for new evolution of innovations like the new technology. Plagiarism destroys our industry reputation in our various professions areas.

It is important to keep accurate sources of your own work, in order to be properly to attribute the exact words ideas you draw from them. Make sure to record the exact page numbers if you dealing with a quotation. Paraphrasing is another way of avoiding plagiarism, as there is nothing wrong by summarizing other peoples work as long as you attribute the ideas to them.

Quotation is away to which guidance from various departments in the institutions are given. (Batane et al., 2010). Any direct inline quotations (that is quotations inserted in sentence) of someone else’s words must be put into quotation marks and attributed to their original author.

References

Batane, T., 2010. Turning to Turnitin to fight plagiarism among university students. Journal of Educational Technology & Society13(2), p.1.

Hu, Guangwei, and Jun Lei. “Chinese university students’ perceptions of plagiarism.” Ethics & Behavior 25.3 (2015): 233-255.

Avoiding Plagiarism Relevant Posts

Dissertation Proposal Writing

Dissertation Research Proposal For University Students

Dissertation Examples and Sample Dissertations

If you enjoyed reading this post on hoe best to avoid plagiarism, I would be very grateful if you could help spread this knowledge by emailing this post to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter or Facebook. Thank you.