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Important Features of Sovereignty as a Political Concept

by Shamsul October 20, 2021

Important Features of Sovereignty as a Political Concept

Introduction

Sovereignty is the quality or will that the people have over the power that a state possesses; it is absolute and perpetual power, the highest authority that exists within a state. Likewise, it is the absolute power exercised by a state over a specific territory, and it is based on the law (constitution) (Brown, 2002). Conceptually, the term refers to the legal rationalization of political power, that is, the transformation of de facto power into legal power. Historically the concept appears together with the modern State in the sixteenth century to describe the unique and exclusive state power subject of politics.

Another description of the term can be understood from three perspectives of its character: 1) limited, 2) absolute and 3) arbitrary. The first conceives sovereignty as Locke, which has natural limits in the contract from which it arises (Constitution) and by the people, of whom it is a representative; the second, proclaimed by Hobbes and Rousseau, contemplates that sovereign power has no legal limits but its power obeys technical or moral rationality (general will); and the third that considers that the Sovereign Power is the expression in the law of the interest of the strongest (Huysmans, 2003).

Examples of Sovereignty

Sovereignty is one, but it applies in different areas. The exercise of authority within a State, the management of its resources and diplomatic relations are just a few examples of how it is applied.

Popular Sovereignty

Popular sovereignty is the authority exercised by the people or group of citizens who live in a given territory. This form implies the exercise of the individual will express through voting, with which decisions of public interest are made and government representatives are elected (Prokhovnik, 2007).

National Sovereignty

National sovereignty is the authority exercised by a nation before the citizens that make it up and before other nations. A nation is considered as a network of institutions in which power is exercised on behalf of the people, instead of the sum of the wills of its citizens (Fassbender, 2003).

For example, when a nation starts a military conflict because they have invaded its territory, it is not necessarily considering the will of all its citizens. But it can make those kinds of decisions because it is exercising its national sovereignty through its official institutions (Executive Power, Armed Forces, etc.).

Internal or political sovereignty

Internal sovereignty or political sovereignty is the ability of a State to exercise authority within its territory, as established in its constitution and its formal institutions.

The organization of power (executive, legislative and judicial) and the civil code are expressions of the internal sovereignty of a nation to carry out actions, order laws, or make decisions (Prokhovnik, 2007).

In turn, internal sovereignty is reflected in other areas that have to do with the internal management of a State’s resources:

Food Authority: it is the power that each State has to define the policies that have to do with the production of its food.
Economic Authority: it is the authority of a State to create and implement measures related to its currency (value of the currency, exchange rate, interest rates, etc.).
Military Authority: refers to the ability of the State to protect its borders using its own Armed Forces, without requiring the intervention of other States.

External Sovereignty

External is that which a State exercises in the international arena with other States. It is expressed through diplomacy and international treaties, and its limits are regulated by international law (Lake, 2003).

The clearest example of external sovereignty is when a nation protects its territory against foreign aggression. By defending itself, it is using its authority to prevent another nation from interfering in its territory.

Another example would be international treaties, in which each State assumes a series of legal commitments with other peers. These treaties are framed in International Law but do not compromise the authority that each State has over its territory.

Characteristics of Sovereignty

It is the maximum power in a nation – It is the maximum power within a country since it does not admit other powers above it since it represents the collective and inalienable will of the nation.

It is a primal power –

Sovereignty is primal, that is, it is a power by itself that does not come from or originate from another power or mandate, it is not assigned by an established power (a state) or person.

It is one and indivisible –

Sovereignty is one and indivisible, that is, it belongs to the entire nation and not to a particular individual, although each individual is part of the nation and shares authority with the other members of the nation, as a private individual, he cannot claim authority as his own.

Sovereignty is inalienable and imprescriptible –

This means that sovereignty cannot be transferred, let’s say to another nation, even when the state or the majority of the people consent to it. In addition, the authority of a country is not subject to temporary changes, it is understood that it is not expired. Nor is it subject to the permanence or change of a regime, being completely alien to the regimes that govern a country and its ideologies.

It belongs to the people –

Its ownership belongs to the people (or in its case to the monarch), a single individual cannot be the holder of the authority of a nation, however at first the notion of sovereignty fell on the sovereign, (king, prince, or emperor), understanding that the monarchs had powers to repeal and enact laws and were only subject to the “common laws of all peoples,” that is, they had certain limitations. At present authority rests with the people both in the republics and in most monarchies (constitutional or parliamentary).

It is based on a legal regime –

The sovereignty of each nation is based on its legal regime, generally on the country’s constitution. Therefore, the constitution and other laws establish the ways to exercise authority, giving powers to the state to exercise power and protect it from interference and violations in any area.

The laws of a country establish the legal framework in which is based and establish who will be the ones who will represent the sovereignty of the nation, (public officials), legislative, judicial, police, military, customs, prosecutors officials, etc. being the only ones legally authorized to represent the interests of national sovereignty and defend them by establishing the independence of state power from any other power (internal or foreign factual).

State protection of sovereignty –

The state is obliged to protect sovereignty (territorial, air, maritime), through military and police forces, against foreign powers or factual powers that seek to undermine it. In the same way, the state creates methods and uses resources for the protection of food, industrial, fishing authority, etc., which is established in the constitution and in the laws of the country. Source: Kevin and Tony (2018).

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References

Bardo Fassbender (2003) ‘Sovereignty and Constitutionalism in International Law’, in Neil Walker ed. Sovereignty in Transition, Oxford, Hart
Chris Brown (2002) Sovereignty, Rights and Justice. International Political Theory Today, Cambridge, Polity.
Harrison, Kevin & Boyd, Tony. (2018). The state and sovereignty. 10.7765/9781526137951.00005.
Jef Huysmans (2003) ‘Discussing Sovereignty and Transnational Politics’, in Neil Walker ed. Sovereignty in Transition, Oxford, Hart.
Lake, D. (2003). The New Sovereignty in International Relations. International Studies Review , 303-323
Raia Prokhovnik (2007) Sovereignties: History, Theory, and Practice, Basingstoke, Macmillan.

October 20, 2021 0 comment

Business Marketing Scholarly Trending

Definition and Requirements of Accredited Investor

by Shamsul September 13, 2021

Definition and Requirements of Accredited Investors

What is an Approved Accredited Investor?

An accredited investor is a person or a company that has been granted permission to deal in securities that are not registered with the financial regulators. They have privileged access by fulfilling at least one requirement concerning their income, assets, size of their assets, governance status, or professional experience.

In the USA, the term accredited investor is used by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under Regulation D to refer to financially sophisticated investors and have a reduced need for the protection provided by regulatory disclosures. High-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), banks, insurance firms, brokers, and trusts are all examples of accredited investors.

September 13, 2021 0 comment

Health Management Scholarly

Edge AI (Artificial Intelligence) – IoT in Healthcare – New Opportunities, Case Studies

by Shamsul July 14, 2021

Internet of Things in Healthcare

New Opportunities, Challenges, Case Studies, and Applications of Edge AI for Connected Healthcare

Introduction

Healthcare is a very crucial aspect of human life. Because of the rapid growth in population and the rise of various diseases, there is also a drastic surge in the demand for healthcare and related facilities. In addition to this, the evolution of technology and the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), AI combined with advancing next-generation wireless communications, the notion of connected or smart healthcare has now been introduced to be a developed version of the traditional systems of healthcare. As a matter of fact, smart healthcare can be rendered as that health service that utilizes advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), wearable devices along with advanced communication protocols so as to connect patients, the caregivers as well as healthcare institutions in a dynamic way so that information can be transformed easily among them [1].

Healthcare services which are categorized as smart healthcare services have made the possibility of handling as well as responding to different types of medical requests distantly in an intellectual manner hence, reducing the factor of hospitalization to a greater extent along with helping healthcare providers and other people to detect, predict, diagnose as well as treat the diseases in an intelligent way. In addition to this, smart healthcare e-services are also very useful in the prevention and controlling of the outbreak of infectious or contagious diseases like avian influenza, Ebola virus, Chickungunya virus [2], and the recent Covid-19 pandemic. With all these pieces of information in hand, it has become empirical that the adoption of smart healthcare services is the best way to improve the health level of any country.

An increasing amount of interest is being developed towards those architectures which tend to realize the cooperation of Fog, Cloud, and Edge computing in the healthcare sector. The primary aim is to exploit the potential of edge nodes so as to not only handle functional tasks but, also in data processing, analysis, inference, and correlation [3].

These approaches tend to make the future of the implementation of reliable distributed healthcare services and applications promising as the intelligent mapping of resource management and computational tasks across the nodes proves to fulfill the stringent requirements of the Internet of Things in the healthcare sector [4].

Within this context, the spread of ‘Edge/Fog Health’ solutions which uses appropriate computing models so as to distribute health sensors data processing as well as storage amongst various nodes that are situated at different levels of user proximity, as follows:

Edge computing tends to incur directly over devices to which the sensors are connected or any gateway device which is physically proximate to the sensors. Some good examples of edge nodes include wearable devices like smartphones.

Fog computing nodes are the local area network so that bigger and powerful devices like gateways, local servers, and PCs can be included which might be at a distance physically from the actuators and sensors.

Both of these paradigms which are increasingly being implemented in a combined manner tend to leverage the proximity of the users so as to deliver location-aware healthcare services with lower latency and higher availability [5]. Within these dimensions, some methods rely on hierarchical computing strategies that were proposed to allocate as well as distribute the inference tasks of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) methods between the fog, cloud, and edge levels attempting to push computational capacities of the edge devices to their top [1], [4], [6] and [7].

A transition from the mobile cloud computing model (MCC) which is characterized by increased data transmission costs as well as limited coverage towards a mobile edge computing model (MEC) [8] with lower latency and reliable edge ML approaches has been progressively been made part within the smart healthcare realm.

Edge Technology in Smart Healthcare

In recent times, most healthcare systems have implemented cloud computing solutions for the provision of accessible and affordable healthcare solutions so as to process as well as store large amounts of data that have been recorded through various biosensors. However, as cloud-based smart healthcare system usually involves a network, cloud servers, and mobile devices, there are many times a long distance amongst systems’ unit which, further strengthens the issue of higher latency within these systems [9]. Hence, real-time and emergency medical treatments cannot completely rely on cloud-based healthcare systems. In addition to this, the huge amount of information that is produced by these sensors should regularly be transferred over to the cloud so as to process and store information which can result in increased consumption of energy and increased cost as well. Moreover, many patients requiring treatment for chronic diseases require lower-cost mobile environments which lack support from cloud-based healthcare solutions [10] and [11].

Edge-assisted healthcare solutions transfer processes to the end-user which not only reduces the use of energy but also reduces response time. As a matter of fact, edge technology assists smart healthcare systems to mine and then process health information collected through edge services and devices that are near to the user. Additionally, processing information with edge also helps in boosting security, mobility, privacy, geographical distribution, lower network bandwidth use as well as location awareness along with facilitating on the web diagnosis and analytics thereby, reducing hospital visits [2]. Therefore, edge technology greatly contributes towards the development of a smart healthcare systems by delivering swift, comprehensive as well as universal treatments.

Fig. 1: Edge-assisted smart healthcare functionality flow.

The architecture of edge computing in smart healthcare services comprises four distinct layers including sensor layers, edge devices, edge servers, and cloud data centers. This architecture has been illustrated in Figure 1 in the form of functionality flow, representing the functions as well as the common devices that are being used at every layer. In the sensor layer, there are numerous sensors including both implanted as well as wearable sensors which have the function of obtaining health data and vital signs from the patients. The figure indicates the type of data which can be collected with the help of these sensors. This layer initiates communication with edge devices layer by means of low power and short-range wireless communicating protocols like Bluetooth, ZigBee, and Wi-Fi [10]. This layer includes users’ devices like smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, and raspberry pi which have the capability of conducting various processes as well as storing data in the shorter term.

The information in the edge devices layer is transmitted to the edge server layer through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or internet protocols. In the edge server layer, there are microdata centers through which it conducts numerous processes and stores more data against the edge devices layer [11]. Figure 1 illustrates that the functionality of the edge devices layer and edge servers’ layer is nearly the same except that the computational power and storage capacity in the edge server layer is a lot more powerful than that of the edge devices layer. The final layer of the cloud data center incorporates highly powerful processors and has the capability to store huge amounts of data. This layer develops communication with edge servers’ layer over the internet.

Artificial Intelligence in Edge Assisted Smart Health Care Systems

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has excelled in numerous sectors which have ultimately opened up a vast amount of possibilities for machines to start ‘thinking’ and automate tasks given which was once the duty of humans so as to gain faster and more accurate results. In recent times, AI has penetrated itself in the medical sector as well. With the combination of edge AI with reliable and strong computer hardware, medical technology is now capable of incorporating deep learning so as to deliver better and improved patient care as well as medical outcomes of the patients.

Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data have emerged as major players in the healthcare sector. In the future, this sector can highly benefit through AI assistance or might even take over some tasks that are currently assigned to doctors and healthcare staff a good example of this is a radiologist have a task to analyze ultrasounds so as to arrive at a diagnosis of the patients. However, radiologists can assess only a few of the medical images at a time. When this task of analysis is allocated to AI software, its computer hardware building block will have the capacity to analyze multiple images at a very swift pace. In addition to this, the vast amount of historical data stored within the AI server, the system will also be able to identify any abnormalities along with calculating results on its own. Another benefit from these systems is that they can also offer customized treatment plans based upon the medical history in the patients’ records.

When the AI technology in the healthcare sector is attained at a perfect pace, the sector will be more capable of improving and saving lives along with reducing costs. Additionally, the technology will also eliminate the risk of any human error within the diagnosis and provide accurate and reliable information which is crucial for expedited care and medical treatment. This technology also fosters clinical workflow and free up a lot of time of doctors and physicians which can be used for patient interaction and consultation along with reducing the time involved in receiving treatment.

Opportunities and Challenges

Healthcare is at the edge of a revolution – one which is driven by technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the other one with edge computing. The implementation of artificial intelligence in healthcare is expected to grow at an annual growth rate of 41.4% from 2020 to reach $51.3 billion by 2027, while edge cloud computing is expected to grow by 34.1% between now and 2025. As both technologies are growing continuously, they are greatly being made part of the decisions made in the healthcare sector. The technologies go hand in hand – AI has become the key driver for edge computing and edge computing is a significant enable for AI.

Transforming the rate of biomedical discoveries through Edge-AI

In this era of the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare sector has transformed towards AI for accelerating research over COVID-19 so as to discover more about the virus as well as being able to develop suitable antiviral medicines. A UK-based technological organization, Causaly, developed a biomedical research tool that allows researchers to carry out deep researches and find answers to complex research questions which would take weeks and even months otherwise. The AI of Causally can read, understand as well as interpret a huge database of biomedical information within seconds, allowing researchers to rapidly map epidemiology data, molecular targets, biomarker genes along with identifying potential treatment options [12].

These types of AI applications are traditionally powered by cloud computing and data centers. However, with time AI has become a lot closer to the user – within software and Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) endpoints as well as other medical devices. Examples can be wearable health devices like blood pressure monitors and ECG monitors which can collect and assess data locally and which can be easily shared by a patient to the doctor for carrying out an instant health assessment.

The result of this is that more and more healthcare businesses that are involved in AI have started to understand the importance of edge computing. As a matter of fact, Deloitte expects to sell more than 750 million edge AI chips which have been designed to allow on-device machine learning this year.

Transferring the Dull Work from Doctors to Machines

The use of edge-AI algorithms to support medical decision making, workflow management, and early diagnosis is relevant because the technology does not suffer from human deficits such as fatigue, its use would result in care more efficient for patients and time savings for healthcare professionals.

An average nurse in the US spends almost 25% of her time on administrative tasks. This can easily be reduced by the implementation of Robotics Process Automation. Moreover, Natural Language Processing (NLP)-based assistants like chatbots used to perform initial patient interviews are an off-the-top-of-the-head example. Developing a comprehensive Electronic Health Record System using edge computing technologies and powered by AI is the first step towards the development of the next generation Edge-AI powered healthcare solutions [13].

Administrative Workflow Management: Using edge-AI to automate administrative workflow through custom software development allows physicians to save time on routine tasks and prioritize issues urgent. Managing routine tasks, such as entering medical notes into patient charts, can be done using audio-to-text transcription software, saving valuable time.

The use of chatbots coupled with technology can also save caregivers precious time. The sculpin is able to communicate with patients, in order to follow them at home and trigger an alert in the event of an abnormal response. The caregiver can then take over, and devote his time to the patients for the patients who really need it [14].

Predictive analysis: Patient data collected from medical records and data obtained from connected objects give the doctor access to valuable information on the patient as well as on the population cohort to which the patient belongs. Computing this data using AI algorithms and edge computing helps develop the patient profile and build predictive models to effectively anticipate, diagnose and treat disease.

Prognosis: The massive use of data by AI makes it possible to improve the prognosis of patients by adapting the treatment to the characteristics of the disease and the specificities of each person. This precision medicine thanks to edge computing now offers the possibility of prescribing the best therapeutic options according to a very particular profile to maximize the chances of success of the treatment [15].

Providing Early Diagnostic Services

The proliferation of connected objects combined with the computing power of Edge-AI has enabled healthcare professionals to better monitor the patient and detect life-threatening risks at an earlier stage and easier to treat [16]. Some examples of applications of this data that are currently used in the health sector

Heart Condition Detection: Connected devices can be used to track the heart rate and monitor the patient’s EKG. This allows underlying heart conditions to be detected and diagnosed earlier. This is the case of the European MAESTRIA project, the objective of which is to prevent heart rhythm disorders and the risk of stroke, by integrating artificial intelligence. The mass of data from different medical sources can thus be analyzed in order to offer personalized therapies to each patient [17].

Breast cancer detection: AI is currently used to analyze mammograms. It was discovered that the scan rate is 30 times faster than that of a human and has an accuracy of 99%. It is able to detect extremely small metastases that humans are likely to miss. This not only reduces the risk of misdiagnosis but also reduces the need for invasive biopsies to make the diagnosis. This is the case with the company Mammoscreen, which uses AI and edge computing for the interpretation of screening mammograms [6].

Disease Trends: Patients are increasingly relying on search engines like Google to check their symptoms online before going to the doctor. Using AI to monitor this trend and draw conclusions can lead to early intervention in the event of a possible outbreak in the population. Google had already tried to do this in 2008 with influenza trends with its Google Flu Trends tool, but it failed due to the lack of streamlined data and numerous inconsistencies [18].

With advances in computing, this can now become an important asset for the early detection of infectious diseases and the prevention of their epidemics. From the end of December 2019, the Canadian company BlueDot had alerted to the coronavirus epidemic, even before the first alert from the World Health Organization, thanks to its AI technology.

Turning Electronic Medical Records into Risk Predictors: Patient medical records are a gold mine of data, but sorting them out and getting useful results are a task that would waste a lot of human time and effort. This is where the power of edge computing and AI comes in.

Improving Existing Processes by Providing Robotic Support

Like every institution, the healthcare sector is also prone to resource and time leakage. This can eventually result in various inefficiencies which stack up with a scale to huge amounts. An example of this can be mislabeled data that comes from radiology and histopathology diagnoses. These are usually associated with human errors as the specialist has done his best; however, the mistake is later on verified by the doctor. The best options can be to repeat the diagnosis process or ask for an update with the lab. All this involves a great deal of time.

A medical tool makes use of the Edge-AI system and aims in handling such issues maintaining focus over microscopic slides used in histopathology.

Robot-assisted surgery: Surgical robots use Edge-AI to use information from previous operations to improve surgical techniques. Data from preoperative records are integrated with operational measures to improve the outcome of the operation. These operations are minimally invasive and the precision of the robot-assisted instrument helps reduce the degree of post-op trauma.

Autonomous robotic surgeries: Although currently limited to science fiction, robotic operations may become a reality in the future. Using machine learning to combine motor pattern recognition and visual interpretation of data can extend surgeon’s dexterity to robots and make autonomous robotic surgery a reality. Robotic surgery is currently limited to the remote control of robots by the surgeon via a computer, but this could change in the future [19].

Auxiliary Robots: These are robots that find application in various fields, including patient care, nursing, and the care of the elderly and debilitated patients.

Chatbots: Chatbots are AI-powered algorithms capable of conducting conversations with patients. They have the potential to become the first point of contact for primary health care. The severity of the request is determined and chatbots can either fix the problem or pass it on to the doctor. The widespread use of chatbots considerably reduces the workload of the doctor and avoids having to go unnecessarily to health professionals. This is the case of the company Calmedica, which uses artificial intelligence to communicate by SMS with patients before and after a consultation and to improve their follow-up [20]

Edge Analytics in Healthcare Powers Improved Patient Outcomes

Edge analytics can help physicians take a more holistic approach to disease management, better coordinate care journeys, and ultimately help patients stick to their long-term treatment better. Technology also plays a vital role in delivering care through telemedicine and remote patient monitoring.

Here are Some of its Applications

Audio-to-Text Transcripts: Healthcare professionals spend a lot of time entering medical notes into patients’ medical records. Voice-to-text transcription of these notes using AI would increase the time spent on patient care.

Precision Medicine: Making relevant patient data available to physicians is a further step in the development of precision medicine. It allows physicians to make medical decisions tailored to each patient and create treatment plans specific to each.

Edge-AI has the ability to analyze a large selection of patient data (symptoms, lifestyle, treatments, etc.) in order to offer a very precise and reliable diagnosis. In this context, one of the major challenges is to guarantee the interoperability of the different data sources (medical files, connected objects, applications, etc.) in order to offer complete analyzes.

Applications of Edge-AI in the Diagnosis of Diseases

Diagnosis using x-rays: The use of edge computing and AI to analyze x-ray images obtained by MRI machines, scanners, and x-rays have not only made it possible to obtain a diagnosis comparable to that of a radiologist, but the results were also much faster [22]. The use of AI in diagnosis is meant to be an adjunct for the radiologist, who can use AI for routine cases and use his resources for more complicated cases.

For example, the start-up Incepto uses artificial intelligence in medical imaging, with the aim of rapidly detecting cancer or cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. It allows doctors to cope with the exponential increase in health data to be analyzed.

Use of AI in Oncology: AI-infused edge computing can effectively predict tumor behavior by combining analysis of clinical, microscopic, and molecular data. This would allow doctors to better understand the behavior of tumors as a whole, to better define their aggressiveness, and thus to select the treatment that would give the best results [21].

Edge-AI Enabled Imaging

In the recent few years, Edge-AI has expanded at a drastic rate particularly in the fields of medical imaging and diagnostics. This way, these technologies have helped medical researchers as well as healthcare providers to offer clinical practice which is not only effective but, flawless as well [23]. Making way for standardization and quantification, deep learning assists in the prevention of errors that may occur in the process of diagnostics along with improving upon the outcomes of the test. In addition to this, AI in edge technology is improving assessments of medical imaging so as to detect cases of Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) and malignancy. It also helps in quantifying the flow of blood in the form of visuals.

As per a recent poll carried out by European Radiology Experimental, more than 50% of healthcare leaders across the globe consider the role of AI in edge technology to be promising in the process of diagnosing and monitoring medical images and diagnostics and this percentage will grow significantly.

Remote Care

Another promising area that is clearly associated with the combination of two cutting edge technologies – edge computing and AI is reliable remote healthcare. Developing a remote patient monitoring system that will allow access to health data through connecting various medical as well as non-medical devices can be only possible by the combination of the two technologies. The platform is designed to offer patient care services, patient health programs, and chronic disease management. in addition to this, it also enables continuous care of the patients and the elderly at home which will reduce their cost of treatment.

The benefits from edge computing-based remote care will be highly significant. A study carried out in 2015 indicates an almost 50 percent reduction in 30-day readmissions and up to a 19 percent reduction in the 180-day readmission amongst patients who received remote care. The bottom line stands to benefit as well with estimates suggesting that telemedicine alone could help cut U.S. employer healthcare costs by as much as $6 billion annually.

Key AI Technologies that has Transformed the Healthcare Sector

Technologies like Deep Learning, NLP, Intelligent Robotics, and Context-Aware Processing are considered to be the backbone of Edge-AI in the real world. These are the technologies that have transformed the healthcare sector to a greater extent.

Deep Learning

The process of diagnosing and treating diseases is more likely to improve by the implementation of AI within the healthcare sector. Deep Learning is an essential component in Edge-AI and can be used for analyzing medical images and data so as to increase the potential of physicians for giving effective treatment to patients. Through deep learning, visually challenged can develop a sense of their environment as the AI-computer vision and the text-to-speech apps will describe the text, detect facial cues of the people nearby, assess the surroundings, and give an explanation of the environment. Within the revolution of deep learning, three trends include powerful Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), sophisticated neural network algorithms modeled on the human brain, and access to a huge amount of data from the web [24].

Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Edge-AI also has a very important role to play in converting a whole lot of complex data within meaningful and simple information and this process is made easier through NLP. The focus of NLP is to mimic responses that are similar to human responses through using algorithms for responding to queries and conducting conversations. In the healthcare sector, NLP is used for summarizing long narrative text like clinical notes or academic journals through identifying key phrases or concepts. Additionally, NLP can also map out data elements within EHR that are present in the form of unstructured texts and transforming them into structured data which becomes meaningful and helps in improving clinical decision making [25].

Intelligent Robotics

Edge-AI is an integral component in robotics. Robots have the potential to revolutionize life-caring facilities by reducing the need for hospitalization and helping people to stay healthy. AI in alliance with advanced humanoid design will enable robots to carry out social interactions and conversations with elderly patients so as to keep the presence of mind intact. As robots can be integrated with a higher level of flexibility and reach, they can be easily used for smaller incisions with a lot of precision within the infected area. Additionally, robots can also be used as a social partner for treating mental health issues of patients [26].

Context-Aware Processing

Other applications of Edge-AI in the healthcare sector are virtual assistant applications like Google Assistant, Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortana, and Amazon Alexa in the medical sector which will carry out tasks as has been commanded by the programmer. AI chatbots, when applied in the healthcare department will significantly reduce the burden over healthcare providers to coordinate care as well as to detect issues and diagnose any health-related concerns. When speaking of the evolution of health assistants, bots are rendered to be the greatest invention up till now. However, chatbots are only enablers within this process to help patients in getting to the right physician for their treatment.

Case Study

AI and Edge Computing – Histopathology Analysis at Nvidia Jetson

Microscopic slides can be defective in a variety of ways. The mistake can occur at the staining procedure was performed to make tissues clear or; it can be the improper sample collection process, any issues with the sample itself, or the sample have been marked by the pathologist with a pen.

These aspects tend to reduce the reliability of the diagnoses made both by humans and analysis by AI models.

The technology was provided from the Virtum platform which is a comprehensive toolset to assess and process large-scale images having focused on microscopic. Virtum, is a cloud-based tool however, some of its functions can be transferred to an edge computing device through making use of the Nvidia Jetson program.

About Nvidia Jetson Nano

Nvidia Jetson is a small operating system which is used for designing, developing and prototype embedded system for both IoT and edge healthcare devices identical. The device can be compared with solutions offered by Arduino or Raspberry Pi and is supported by Nvidia. The size of the computer can be compared with a coffee pack which means it can easily be made part of any setup or can be transported without any hassles. The technology is repeatable and there are no issues in adding the component anywhere.

Why Scan Quality Validation is Important?

Scans of histopathology require higher levels of proficiency to work with. However, despite the skills of people working, there are chances of multiple errors which can be visible in the slides.

regions containing ink
out of focus regions in the slide
torn or folded regions
tiling effect because of stitching
missed out regions during scanning

The development of AI in the healthcare department involves digitalization as well as the development of accessible as well as trustworthy datasets. The occurrence of any mistake listed above can result in the ineffectiveness of Ai automation and algorithms. In addition to this, a non-perfect slide within the dataset can impose a significant impact on the effectiveness of the entire network.

This solution will eventually help physicians to deliver accurate diagnoses as it will provide them information that is accurate and at the right time. Automated quality control after scanning helps in preventing clutter within the database and gives a chance of redo to the scanner or take any other adequate action if and when possible.

Gains

The device will greatly assist in the work of histopathology workers who are annotating slides. The device can be easily added up to any existing setup so as to gain insights into daily work or building new datasets. If the same device is adjusted with additional technologies, it can also be effectively used in radiology or similar other tasks that require marking over larger images.

The solution of the platform is that it can bring in considerable synergies when applied in conjunction with edge computing. Building a collection of properly marked annotated slides is very important in developing AI-based tools or automating any image-related workflow.

Summary

The solution of Nvidia edge AI-based shows how implementing single-step automation can result in the saving of both time and resources. In addition to this, it also shows that AI is the go-to strategy in the healthcare sector particularly when the aim is to save with bandwidth along with preparing better input for cloud-based solutions.

The Challenges of Adopting Edge-AI

The adoption of Edge-AI in healthcare opens up a number of possibilities, but it also comes with a series of challenges.

The phenomenon called “black box”

In some cases, AI systems offer solutions that cannot be explained. This phenomenon is explained by the complexity of these algorithms which perform a very large number of micro-reasonings that, placed end to end, allow the machine to issue its diagnosis. However, these are so numerous that it is impossible for a human to understand them, hence the black box.

However, to be acceptable, the decisions of the algorithm must be able to be understood and therefore explained. But in the case of the black box, the number of micro-reasonings performed by the machine is such that it is not possible to understand them [26].

Complexity of stakeholders

All players in the healthcare sector, including patients, healthcare professionals, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, insurance companies, are stakeholders in the adoption of AI. Resistance to technology at any level would lead to problems in integrating the technology as a whole. As with any new technology, there is an initial reluctance to adopt it in the marketplace, with healthcare facilities and users concerned about its application and safety [27].

Compliance with regulations

According to the report “Giving a meaning to artificial intelligence” by Deputy Cédric Villani published in March 2018, artificial intelligence “opens up new opportunities to innovate” with constant pharmacopeia “by building a diagnosis and a therapeutic strategy more suited to the need. of the patient, his environment and his way of life ”. Bringing hope, artificial intelligence also generates several legal challenges [28].

AI can only develop with very large volumes of data. In France, the collection and use of health data are subject to a number of laws such as the GDPR and the incorporation of AI is subject to the approval of organizations to ensure that standards are maintained [29]. The challenge for political and legal institutions will be to allow the development of the interoperability of information systems within a protective legislative framework and to find the right balance between the use, access, and security of health data. The question is not to produce more data but, above all, to pool those that already exist, and to facilitate access within an ethical and protective framework [30].

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References

[1] A. Abdel latif, A. Mohamed, C. F. Chiasserini, M. Tlili, and A. Erbad, “Edge computing for smart health: Context-aware approaches, opportunities, and challenges, ”IEEE Network, vol. 33,no. 3, pp. 196–203, 2019.

[2] S. Rani, S. H. Ahmed, and S. C. Shah, “Smart health: a novel paradigm to control the chickungunya virus, ”IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 1306–1311, 2018

[3] Bierzynski K., Escobar A., Eberl M. 2017 Second International Conference on Fog and Mobile Edge Computing (FMEC) IEEE; 2017. Cloud, fog and edge: cooperation for the future?

[4] Azimi I., Anzanpour A., Rahmani A.M., Pahikkala T., Levorato M., Liljeberg P., Dutt N. HiCH: hierarchical fog-assisted computing architecture for healthcare IoT. ACM Trans. Embed. Comput. Syst. (TECS) 2017;16(5s):174.

[5] Chiang M., Zhang T. Fog and IoT: an overview of research opportunities. IEEE Internet Things J. Dec. 2016;3(6):854–864

[6] Ibrahim W.N.H., Selamat A., Krejcar O., CHAUDHRY J. New Trends in Intelligent Software Methodologies, Tools and Techniques. IOS Press; 2018. Recent advances on fog health – a systematic literature review.

[7] Uddin M.Z. A wearable sensor-based activity prediction system to facilitate edge computing in smart healthcare system. J. Parallel Distrib. Comput. 2019;123:46–53

[8] Hartmann M., Hashmi U.S., Imran A. Edge computing in smart health care systems: review, challenges, and research directions. Trans. Emerg. Telecommun. Technol. 2019;e3710

[9] Azimi I., Takalo-Mattila J., Anzanpour A., Rahmani A.M., Soininen J.P., Liljeberg P. 2018 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Connected Health: Applications, Systems and Engineering Technologies (CHASE) IEEE; 2018. Empowering healthcare IoT systems with hierarchical edge-based deep learning; pp. 63–68.

[10] J. Azar, A. Makhoul, M. Barhamgi, and R. Couturier, “An energyefficient iot data compression approach for edge machine learn-ing,”Future Generation Computer Systems, vol. 96, 2019.

[11] Abdellatif A.A., Mohamed A., Chiasserini C.F., Tlili M., Erbad A. Edge computing for smart health: context-aware approaches, opportunities, and challenges. IEEE Netw. 2019;33(3):196–203

[12] Bishop,C.M.(2013)Model-basedmachinelearning. Philos.Trans.AMath.Phys.Eng.Sci. 371http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2012.0222

[13] Ahmed Abdulkadir Ibrahim, Yasin Muhamma, Wang Zhuopeng,” “ IOT Patient Health Monitoring System” Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Application ISSN: 2248-9622, Vol. 7, Issue 10, October 2017, pp.01-03

[14] Musa, M. Opinion: Rise of the Robot Radiologists.Science. 2018. Available online: https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/opinion–rise-of-the-robot-radiologists-64356 (accessed on 15 November 2020).

[15] Palanica, A.; Flaschner, P.; Thommandram, A.; Li, M.; Fossat, Y. Physicians’ Perceptions of Chatbots in Health Care: Cross-sectionalWeb-based Survey.J. Med Internet Res.2019,21, e12887

[16] Rohini Raina, Dr. Naveen Kumar Gondhi, “Machine Learning Techniques in IoT” International Journal of Scientific Research in Computer Science, Engineering and Information Technology © 2018 IJSRCSEIT | Volume 4 | Issue 1 | ISSN: 2456-3307

[17] A.Al-Fuqaha, M. Guizani, M. Mohammadi, M. Aledhari and M. Ayyash, “Enabling Technology for the internet of Health Things”. IEEE Translation and content mining, vol. 17, pp. 2347 – 2376, 2015

[18] Shubham Banka, Isha Madan and S.S. Saranya “Smart Healthcare Monitoring using IoT” International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 13, Number 15 (2018) pp. 11984-11989

[19] Yoon, S.; Lee, D. Artificial Intelligence and Robots in Healthcare: What are the Success Factors for Technology-based ServiceEncounters?Int. J. Healthc. Manag.2019,12, 218–225

[20] Ramesh, A.; Kambhampati, C.; Monson, J.; Drew, P. Artificial Intelligence in Medicine.Ann. R. Coll. Surg. Engl.2004,86, 334–338.

[21 Lee, S.; Lim, S.Living Innovation: From Value Creation to the Greater Good; Emerald Publishing Limited: Bingley, UK, 2018.

[22] Safavi, K.; Kalis, B. How AI can Change the Future of Health Care.Harv. Bus. Rev.2019. Available online: https://hbr.org/webinar/2019/02/how-ai-can-change-the-future-of-health-care (accessed on 15 June 2020).

[23] Magaña Espinoza P., Aquino-Santos R., Cárdenas-Benitez N., Aguilar-Velasco J., Buenrostro-Segura C., Edwards-Block A. WiSPH: a wireless sensor network-based home care monitoring system. Sensors. 2014;14(4):7096–7119

[24] LeCun, Y.; Bengio, Y.; Hinton, G. Deep Learning.Nature2015,251, 434–444.

[25] Sulleyman, A. Stephen Hawking Warns Artificial Intelligence ‘May Replace Humans Altogether’. 2017. Available online:https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/stephen-hawking-artificial-intelligence-fears-ai-will-replace-humans-virus-life-a8034341.html (accessed on 15 October 2020).

[26] Capobianco G, Di Giacomo U, Martinelli F, et al. Wearable Devices for Human Activity Recognition and User Detection[C]//2019 27th Euromicro International Conference on Parallel, Distributed and Network-Based Processing (PDP). IEEE, 2019: 365-372

[27] Yoon; Lee, D. Effects of Key Value Co-creation Elements in the Healthcare System: Focusing on Technology Applications.Serv. Bus.2019,13, 389–417

[28] Rigby, M. Ethical Dimensions of Using Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare.AMA J. Ethics2019,21, E121–E124

[29] Lupton, M. Some Ethical and Legal Consequences of the Application of Artificial Intelligence in the Field of Medicine.TrendsMed.2018,18, 1–7.

[30] Luxton, D. Artificial Intelligence in Psychological Practice: Current and Future Applications and Implications.Prof. Psychol. Res.Pract.2014,45, 332–339

July 14, 2021 4 comments

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Top Universities in the World Offering Online Degrees – 2021

by Shamsul May 19, 2021

Top Universities in the World Offering Online Degrees – 2021

There are many top universities in the world that offers online bachelor’s and master’s degrees. They offer multiple degrees and you can also attend lectures online. Many aspirants and students feel confused about choosing the right university. That’s why we decided to mention top universities that offer online degrees. To be very honest, there is no internationally recognized university that gives online degrees. On the other hand, there are some regular universities that offer various online degrees in different programs.

We selected the institutions featured in the QS Ranking, that give ten or more bachelor’s and master’s online degrees. We will discuss these universities in detail but also provide degrees in more than 10 disciplines. These universities are mentioned in the QS Rankings list. We also compile a list of programs that these universities offer, so you can get detail about your relevant subject. We also discuss the types of online programs offered by these top universities so that you can get more detail. You can easily choose the subject including online engineering degrees, education degrees, business degrees, and medical degrees. Scroll down to check out the list of online universities and programs.

Top Universities Providing Online Degrees:

University College London:

They offer twenty fully online programs including online medicine degrees, teaching degrees, and many more. It is a reputed and reliable international university.

Columbia University:

Columbia University offers twelve fully online programs including business degrees, education degrees, and so on. It is one of the top universities in the world.

University of Edinburgh:

It is another globally recognized top university that offers 66 fully online programs such as social sciences degrees, law degrees, medical degrees, and more.

Johns Hopkins University:

This university offers multiple online programs in different disciplines like business degrees, computer science degrees, engineering degrees, natural sciences degrees, and many more.

The University of Manchester:

The University of Manchester offers 32 fully online programs to students in various disciplines such as business degrees, medical degrees, engineering degrees, and so on.

Northwestern University:

It is one of the most trusted universities that provide online degrees in more than 12 programs. They offer degrees in social sciences, medicine degrees, education degrees, etc.

King’s College London:

This university welcomes students by offering 25 totally online programs such as law degrees, social sciences degrees, medical degrees, and many more.

University of California, LA:

Get an opportunity to receive an American degree by enrolling in this university. They provide more than 10 online programs including engineering degrees, and the list goes on.

University of Sydney:

With 28 completely online programs, this university offers different degrees like medicine, engineering, etc.

Monash University:

It is one of the most reliable universities that give the opportunity to get an online degree without any problem. They offer 33+ online programs in various disciplines such as teaching degrees, medical degrees, and so on. They offer both bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

University of Texas, Austin:

If you are interested in computer-related degrees, then you can choose this university because they are really suitable with more than 10 online courses like engineering degrees, computer science (CS) degrees, and more.

University of Glasgow:

This university gives the opportunity to students to study different subjects in order to obtain an online degree. With 22 online programs, they offer business degrees, medical degrees, and education degrees to brilliant students.

Georgia Institute of Technology:

As the name depicts, this university is famous for IT-related degrees. With more than 21 online programs, they offer engineering degrees, business degrees, and many more. What more could you ask for?

University of Sheffield:

This university is best known for its online medical degrees because they have qualified teachers and staff. However, they also offer 24 more programs including engineering degrees, law degrees, education degrees, etc.

University of Birmingham:

If you haven’t found any university that offers your relevant degree, then you will surely find your degree from this university because they offer an extensive range of programs. They provide 67 completely online degrees such as design degrees, social sciences degrees, education degrees, and more.

University of Leeds:

The University of Leeds offers more than 12 online courses including humanities degrees, engineering degrees, and medical degrees. In addition, it is one of the most reputable universities on the QS Rankings list.

University of Nottingham:

With more than 15 online programs, it is another famous university that is best for those students who are looking for online degrees in humanities and engineering degrees.

University of Southampton:

From online computer science (CS) degrees to online medical education degrees, you can select the University of Southampton. Plus, they offer online degrees in more than 12 programs and disciplines, so you can easily find your relevant degree or course.

Boston University:

Boston University offers online education degrees in several disciplines including social sciences, natural sciences, and business degrees. They offer online degrees in 39+ programs which is really good news for students.

So are you ready to get an online education degree? Choose any of these universities and start studying right now. Well Wishes!

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10 Richest Women in the World – 2021

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10 Richest Women in the World – 2021

by Shamsul March 11, 2021

10 Richest Women in the World – 2021

1- Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers (France): 73.8 billion dollars

2- Alice Walton (US): 61.7 billion dollars

3- Jacqueline Mars (US): 31.3 billion dollars

4- Yang Huiyan (China): 29.9 billion dollars

5- Susanne Klatten (Germany): 28.3 billion dollars

6- Gina Rinehart (Australia): 23.7 billion dollars

7- Iris Fontbona (Chile): 23.4 billion dollars

8- Abigail Johnson (US): 20.9 billion dollars

9- Laurene Powell Jobs (US): 19.1 billion dollars

10- Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken (Netherland): 17 billion dollars

Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers is the richest woman in the world with a net worth of 73.8 billion dollars in 2021. She is the owner of L’Oreal and her mother was also the richest woman but she died in 2017. The president of Bettencourt Schueller Foundation is Francoise. According to Forbes, these are the moneymaking ladies of the world that comes from different regions of the world. These ladies are outstanding in acumen and achieve this position with hard work and guts. They are growing financially every year with their intelligence and leadership qualities. Below, you will find the list of the top ten richest women in the world.

1- Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers (France):

She was confirmed as the owner of L’Oreal in 2017 after her mother’s death. She already owns the investment in the company. The president of the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation is Francoise. According to her, leading this company after her mother’s demise is not an easy task. But, with their brilliance and effective strategies, she manages the company securely and gets the first position in 2021. Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers is number ONE on the richest women list with a net worth of 73.8 billion dollars. L’Oreal is the biggest cosmetics and heiress company in the world.

2- Alice Walton (US):

She is the only daughter of the founder of Walmart. She is the co-manager of Walton Enterprises, which is the only family company accountable for 50 percent of the biggest retailer of Walmart. However, her passion and intelligence lie in the art and effective management. Alice Walton is number TWO on the richest women list with a net worth of 61.7 billion dollars. She also opened the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in 2011 in Bentonville, Arkansas.

3- Jacqueline Mars (US):

She holds the 1/3^rd investment in Mars Inc. which is the largest manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other types of food products. The net worth of Jacqueline Mars is 31.3 billion dollars. She is the successor to the candy corporation. She is also the owner of top eventing horses and an active philanthropist.

Jacqueline Mars is number THREE on the richest women list with a net worth of 31.3 billion dollars.

4- Yang Huiyan (China):

Yang Huiyan is the richest woman in China for consecutive 6 years. She earned more than 2 billion dollars on the first four days of 2018. She is the vice-chairman of the famous real estate business, Country Garden Holdings as she holds 57 percent shares of the company. Her father transferred 70 percent share to her name in 2007. She is the owner of Bright Scholar Education Holdings which is responsible for running International K-12 schools. Yang Huiyan is number FOUR on the richest women list with a net worth of 29.9 billion dollars.

5- Susanne Klatten (Germany):

She is a German businesswoman and holds 19 percent shares in the biggest automobile maker company ‘’BMW’’ in the world. This company also owns the Rolls-Royce and Mini Cooper marquee. Her brother owns 23 percent of this company. Her main success as an entrepreneur shows that she is not reliant on the family business. She is also the owner of Atlanta AG which is the biggest pharmaceutical company and earns 2.5 million dollars per year in terms of sales.

Susanne Klatteb is number FIFTH on the richest women list with a net worth of 28.3 billion dollars.

6- Gina Rinehart (Australia):

She is a mining tycoon with a net worth of 23.7 billion dollars. They get iron-ore through mining which is the major business of the company. This company was founded by her father and at the time of her father’s death, the company is on the edge of bankruptcy. But, with the hard work of Gina, the company started growing and now successfully making profits. That’s why the story of Gina is really inspirational. She also owns a private jet that worth 80 million dollars and exploring the world.

Gina Rinehart is number SIXTH on the richest women list with a net worth of 23.7 billion dollars.

7-Iris Fontbona (Chile):

She is another magnate of the mining industry with a total worth of 23.4 billion dollars. She belongs to the country’s wealthiest family and most of their earnings come from Antofagasta, which is the biggest mining company that she heiresses from her late spouse. The company is also responsible for many other businesses such as shipping, brewery, and banking and all are profitable businesses.

Iris Fontbona is number SEVENTH on the richest women list with a net worth of23.4 billion dollars.

8- Abigail Johnson (US):

She holds the chairperson status in Fidelity Investments and considered the most powerful woman in the finance field. This company is considered the top financial services company in the US. In this male-dominant society, she made her name with her intelligence and skills. The net worth of Abigail Johnson is 20.9 billion dollars. This is proof that women can do anything and work on an equal basis with men. Her investment management skills and strategies are really encouraging and her wealth is growing.

Abigail Johnson is number SEVENTH on the richest women list with a net worth of 20.9 billion dollars.

9- Laurene Powell Jobs (US):

She is the wife of late Steve Jobs and worked under his shadow. After his demise, she continued working and now the current worth of her wealth is 19.1 billion dollars. Steve Jobs died in 2011 at the age of 56. Laurene Powell Jobs is also working as a philanthropist. Her biggest project is Emerson Collective that situated in Silicon Valley. This organization was established in 2004. She is working hard to grow her wealth and making her name as a philanthropist.

Laurene Powell Jobs is number EIGHTH on the richest women list with a net worth of 19.1 billion dollars.

10- Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken (Netherland):

She is the single heiress to the ‘’Heineken’’ and holds 25 percent shares in this company. It is the largest brewing company in the world and her father who is the CEO of this company died in 2002. As she is the only daughter and not so active in the company’s affairs, but she completed her studies and then started participating in the company. She traveled to different regions of the world to discover the empire that her father left for her. She is working as the executive director of the company and also considered the richest entrepreneur in the Netherlands’.

Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken is number TENTH on the richest women list with a net worth of 17 billion dollars.

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Biggest Companies in the World by Market Capitalization

by Shamsul January 26, 2021

Top 11 Biggest Companies in the World by Market Capitalization – 2020

Today, we will talk about the 12 biggest companies in the globe. We rank these companies based on market capitalization. If you want to know, then you have read this article completely. Let’s discuss the top 10 most valuable companies in the world.

# 01- Saudi Aramco: (Saudi Arabia)

US$ 1,685 bln.

This oil and gas company is one of the most expensive companies in the world. In 2019, the company issued its financial statement which shows the real worth of the company. The current market capitalization value of Saudi Aramco is $1.9 trillion. The company just surpassed all the expectations and its IPO is very successful. According to Saudi Aramco, they used all its profits for mergers, expansion, and purchases. Moreover, the company is also leading the chart in the production of LNG. Plus, they are also considered as the leaders in oil production and reserves in the world. Saudi Aramco has plants and subsidiaries in different countries such as the USA, UK, UAE, Japan, Russia, and China. They are also partnering with Sinopec, Total SA, Royal Dutch Shell, and Lukoil. The main office of Saudi Aramco is in Dhahran.

# 02- Microsoft: (United State)

US$ 1,359 bln.

It is a software-based company and 2nd most valuable company globally on the basis of market capitalization. Established by Bill Gates in 1975. Now, he is one of the richest men on the planet. It was the first company that used package software to make the computers user-friendly and insightful. The use of the Microsoft Windows operating system allows people to become master in PC skills effortlessly. This thing leads the company to the mountain of success and earnings. Now, it is one of the biggest companies in the PC software industry. They make the user experience high with their innovative services and new generation Windows operating system. Microsoft Office is the biggest achievement of Microsoft. Further, they also manufacture cell phones, office equipment, and accessories. The main office of Microsoft is in Redmond, Washington, USA.

# 03- Apple: (United State)

US$ 1,285.5 bln.

Apple is known for its luxury electronics such as PCs, smartphones, tablets, etc. It is considered the king of mobile phone companies. Recently, they face a loss in sales due to certain issues. But the things are now under control and they are winning the trust of their customers back. It is 3rd on the list of most valuable brands in the world. However, it is 1st in the list of most expensive brands globally. Its emblem and smartphones are very popular among people due to their strong market presence and customer base.

The current value of Apple has calculated market capitalization at 1286 billion dollars. Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne, and Steve Wozniak are the founders of Apple. They get huge success through their highly innovative smartphones and iPads. Currently, they offer an array of products such as laptops, tablets, PCs, smartwatches, and other accessories. All these offerings are stylish, high quality, and excellent. They are operating in every region of the world with nearly 132,000 employees. The headquarters of Apple is in Cupertino, California, USA.

# 04- Amazon: (United State)

US$ 1233.4 bln.

In 2019, Amazon is one of the most expensive companies worldwide. They just beat the record of Microsoft in 2019. Today, it is 4th on the list of most valuable brands in the world. This American-based retail company offers and delivers a variety of goods through an online process. You can sell and purchase anything with the help of Amazon’s website. The success factors of Amazon are a wide assortment, low prices, high quality, and timely delivery. The founder of Amazon is Jeff Bezos and founded in 1994. The main office of Amazon is in Seattle, WA, USA. The current market capitalization value of Amazon is 162 billion dollars and 647,500 employees.

# 05- Alphabet: (United State)

US$ 919.3 bln.

Google is one of the most celebrated search engines in the world but they recently changed its name to ‘’Alphabet’’. The company owns many other companies, so they changed its name. In 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin created this and now they are leading the chart. Almost 30 famous services and sub-companies are working under the banner of Google including YouTube, Android, AdWords, etc. It is headquartered in California, USA.

# 06- Facebook: (United State)

US$ 583.7 bln.

Facebook was founded in 2004 and the founder of Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg. It is a social networking site where you can chat with people and share your thoughts. Almost 2 billion people visited Facebook on daily basis. The current market value of Facebook is 584 billion dollars which shows the success story of this social network. They are making yearly 22 billion dollars through online advertising and its net profit increased by 54 percent within the last year. Plus, it is also on the list of the top 10 profitable companies on market capitalization. It is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, USA.

# 07- Alibaba Group: (China)

US$ 545.4 bln.

It is one of the largest virtual trading organizations in the world, especially in China. The huge success of this company is its reasonable prices and a variety of consumer goods. Founded in 1999 and offers business through web portals. They also provide electronic payment services, cloud computing, and search system for consumers. The main office of Alibaba Group is located in Hangzhou, China.

# 08- Tencent: (China)

US$ 509.7 bln.

It is one of the leading social networking and gaming companies in the globe on market capitalization. This Chinese company was founded in 1998 and is also considered in the list of most expensive companies in the world. They offer mobile games, social networking, e-commerce, smartphones, online games, payment systems, web portals, and music. This kind of offerings makes it a highly innovative and valuable brand worldwide. The main office of Tencent is in Nanshan District, Shenzhen.

# 09- Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (United State)

US$ 455.4 bln.

This company is famous for its insurance, finance, food, and non-food services. Warren Buffet is the permanent owner of Berkshire Hathaway. Its headquarter is in Omaha, USA. The current market share of this company is 344,970 dollars on market capitalization. Here are some affiliated companies of Berkshire Hathaway are given:

Care insurance (GEICO).

Reinsurance (General Re)

Railway Transport (BNSF).

Electricity and gas supply (Berkshire Hathaway Energy).

Wholesale commerce (McLane Company)

More than 40000 shareholders attend the annual meeting in 2015 which’s why it represented as ‘’Woodstock for Capitalists’’.

# 010- Johnson & Johnson: (United State)

US$ 395.3 bln.

This American multinational company is famous for producing consumer products, pharmaceuticals, and medical equipment. In 1886, Edward Mead Johnson, James Wood Johnson, and Robert Wood Johnson are three brothers and the founders of this company. They also manufactured baby powder in 1893. More than 170 countries are part of this company and almost 250 affiliate companies are working in more than 60 countries. It’s headquartered is in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.

# 011- Visa Inc. (United State)

US$ 383.9 bln.

It is one of the leading financial services corporations in the world and established in 1958. This company makes payment transactions and money transfers between financial associations. It is the 2nd largest payment system globally and you can pay with Visa cards in 200+ countries. It is an electronic payment network. These transfers are done through four centers located in Singapore, Virginia, London, and Colorado. The system of Visa is fully secured so you can make transactions without any fear. The main seat of this company is in San Francisco, California, USA. It is number 11 on market capitalization.

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Management Marketing Scholarly

The Rising Inequality Along with the Polarization

by Shamsul December 14, 2020

Explain Theory X and Theory Y from the perspective of both supervisor and worker behavior

Theory X presents a traditional view of management which resembles the autocratic leadership style. The theory assumes that employees are lazy and are not willing to take responsibility, lack ambition, and prefer to be supervised. The managerial implication for this theory is to attain organizational objectives through implementing a coercive and controlling management system. On the other side, theory Y believes that people are happy to work and are motivated towards pursuing objectives. Moreover, people are ready for responsibilities and have a creative problem-solving approach. Managerial implications for this theory are to attain organizational objectives through different rewards. The challenge for this theory is to develop an environment where employees can develop their creativity.

What is a professional bureaucracy? Compare and contrast to a machine bureaucracy and a divisional structure

Professional bureaucracy refers to the fact that firms can be bureaucratic without being centralized. The operating work of such organizations is stable which results in predictable in effect standardized behavior. It is a complex process that is controlled by the operators of it.

Machine bureaucracy

A highly bureaucratic organization is like a machine. Governmental agencies along with other types of set-in-their-ways larger corporations symbolize this type of style. The strengths of this form are longevity, consistency, and structure; however, the downside includes limited openness towards a newer perspective, as well as inefficiencies that result from bureaucratic processes, which is very common.

Divisional structure

This is very common amongst larger corporations that are handling various product lines and multiple units of business. In some instances, corporations might divide their products or businesses within divisions for promoting specific management of every division. This format refers to implementing a centralized control where the divisional presidents tend to oversee all work facets within their respective divisions.

How do feedback systems work in management theories? Describe relevant theories and give concrete examples

The concept of an organization as a system has introduced the importance feedback holds. Businesses and organizations are greatly dependent upon their environment not only for inputs but, for the acceptance of the output as well. As a result, businesses have a need to develop means so as to adjust as per environmental demands. To put this simply, feedback systems collect information which is a reflection of the activity or a series of an activity undertaken on part of the company.

The systems theory when applied in managerial aspects can be related to Total Quality Management (TQM). In this theory, the systemic conception of the firm tends to strengthen by emphasizing the importance of relationships as being a part of the goal that needs to be attained. The feedback system theory can also be applied to the goal-setting theory of management where feedback plays a very important role as this element provides information through which the organization progresses towards goal attainment. Organizations and individuals can set goals as per the received feedback. For example, if a company has launched a product which is initially considered to have high demand however, through the feedback system, the company came to know that the demand for the new product is moderate, it can immediately change several aspects like budget allocated for the production process or work upon marketing activities.

Applying Coase and Benkler, at minimum, what are three ways of structuring business transactions? Be thorough in your explanations.

The three ways of business transaction structuring involve:

fiscal
legal
financial evaluation

The transaction cost approach was developed by Yochai Benkler which refers to the cost of delivering a product or service from the market instead of providing it from within the company. However, Ronald Coase theorem states that the markets are always competitive where there is no transaction cost along with an efficient set of outputs and inputs which will result in the making of an optimal decision.

How do behavioral economics and classical economics differ? What are the implications of those differences in terms of real-life impact?

Behavioral as well as classical economics is are two distinct rather opposite realms within economic modeling. The process of understanding the difference between the two allows interpreting its implication in real-life impact. On one side, behavioral economics tends to deal with the inconsistency that exists between what is desired and what was the outcome. For example, if a person is willing to lose weight but is never able to get it done. Additionally, this modeling states that man has irrational behavior. This is related to classical economics which clears that individuals are rational beings. However, behavioral economics assumes that the opposite of this is true.

Within classical economics, consumption and production can be determined through cost and benefit at the margin. Both the producer as well as the consumer believe to make rational decisions. The buying power of the consumers is fostered by gaining the most benefit from every dollar spent whereas, producers tend to work towards attaining the highest possible profit.

What are the basic differences in values between economic conservatives and economic liberals?

Economic liberals tend to extend their support towards the rule of law (contract), property rights, free trade, equity injustice, and capitalism. They basically believe that every individual is provided with equal opportunity for economic success and must not be deprived of the rewards associated with his labor unjustly. It refers to the freedom of an individual in the economy to carry on with activities with very limited interference from the government.

Economic conservatives, on the other hand, view social stability and order to be integral components of economic success. Conservatives of one generation most often defend the conservatives of the previous generation because of the perceived threat that the change might bring in.

Explain externalities and the Tragedy of the Commons

Economic efficiency involves that people make decisions over the basis of accurate prices – receiving full benefits for things produced and paying the full cost of the resources consumed. Positive and Negative externalities is a situation in which accurate prices are not present. Operating in a world where there are no patents that might lead to numerous positive externalities. For example, a company works over a remedy for migraine headache for almost a decade and when it is successful, someone else copies it and sell without paying any royalty. This will affect economic efficiency as fewer people will attempt to make research.

An example of a negative externality is that of the Tragedy of Commons. An example is that cows are bought and sent for grazing to the commons until the time arrives for slaughtering. The price of the cow is determined by her weight at the time of sale and the weight depends upon the amount of grass eaten whereas, the amount of grass the cow has eaten depends upon the total number of other cows that were also grazing with the commons.

When a farmer adds a cow in the commons, that added cow, by eating grass, imposes cost overall farmers as their cows will now not gain as much weight as they would have before adding in the new cow. However, this is an external cost and the farmer adding in the cow does not have to pay and as such, this cost is not considered in deciding whether a cow should be bought and grazed with the commons.

Broad CSR argues that universal core ethical values should shape business decisions; neoliberalism holds that only profit maximization should. Which view do you think is better able to deal with externalities like pollution, and why?

I think that CSR has more potential to deal with ethical core values that relate to externalities like pollution. CSR is the organization’s legal and moral responsibility towards the environment and community through contributing to education and social programs, working on pollution and water reduction processes as well as earning adequate returns over resources employed. CSR is effective towards pollution because it holds the concept of conducting business activities under strict compliance with the law, while still making profits, voluntarily considers the impact of their operations over the environment within their business decisions. This approach effectively contributes towards improving the quality of life along with implementing the concept of sustainable development.

What factor do you think best accounts for the rise in inequality since 1980: technological innovation, ideology, or another factor? Explain in detail and give your reasoning why.

The rising inequality along with the polarization of the societies poses a serious risk to the economy. This is because technology leads to financial inclusion in those countries where there is no financial infrastructure and global markets create trading opportunities. Intelligent automation strikes middle-income groups. Only in the banking sector, many jobs are at the risk of being decimated because of the utilization of artificial intelligence for performing tasks that were previously considered to be very complex for automation. Additionally, with advancements within biohacking and gene editing, there is a threat to human augmentation and longevity which also results in a newer segment of individuals where the elite class emerges from both mentally as well as physical up-gradation.

Richard Thaler talks about “humans” and “econs” as having different methods of making decisions. Are humans and econs two different types of people, or are we sometimes humans, sometimes econs? Give supporting evidence for your answer.

The notion of econ versus humans is very easy for understanding decision-making behavior. A human is not always logical as they can react automatically, have intuitions as well as emotions for making decisions, and can also make errors from a rational viewpoint. Econs, on the other side, have logical and rational behavior. They usually have the will and make mental efforts to make decisions. In short, it can be said that humans are different from econs. Humans are emotional, imperfect, and full of bias whereas, econs are perfect, objective, and calculated. Evidence of this statement is that if a person is willing to lose weight and has the information about the number of calories required to attain this goal and those available in different foods. In such a situation, he will only o for a food product that has minimal calories. However, after pursuing the weight loss ambition, the person views an advertisement of ice cream which have an attractive price and states that an individual should have 2000 calories every day so as to effectively function and this appealing deal leads the person to fall into the temptation which eventually resulted in falling out from the bandwagon of weight loss representing lack of self-control which is a clear characteristic of a human.

Neoliberalism

Neoliberalism is based on two principles: market fundamentalism, which is that vision according to which markets by themselves are efficient and sufficient for sustained growth and full employment, and the “ cascade effect economy, which is the vision that growth itself inevitably benefits everyone, including the poor, and the best way to help the poor is to maximize growth.

Neither economic theory nor the evidence supports any of these propositions. The market economy has been plagued by periodic crises and massive unemployment; without government intervention, companies have polluted our air and waters; unregulated or poorly regulated banking has caused problems country after country; Recent scandals in the United States involving Enron, Arthur Andersen, and almost every major bank have shown trouble even in one of the best-performing market economies.

I agree with neoliberals that at the heart of all successful economies there are markets, but markets and government need to work in partnership. A balance is necessary, “a third way”, between the extremes of excessive government intervention and the kind of `minimalist government that neoliberals advocate.

United States Government

In the fastest-growing countries, governments have played a central role. Even today in the United States the government continues to play an important role, such as in promoting technology (the Internet was an invention of the United States government and the first telegraph line was also financed by the United States government more than 150 years ago. years) in providing education, even in providing financing (up to a quarter of all loans come from either government-sponsored companies or government guarantees), in ensuring income and health for the elderly. My own research on markets with asymmetric information (different people know different things) showed that the reason Adam Smith’s invisible hand was invisible – according to which markets lead to efficiency – was that it simply did not exist.

In the same way, there have been long periods in history when the poor have actually become poorer as economies grow. Neoliberal policies have focused on macro-stability, privatization, and liberalization. Certain aspects of these policies make sense when done the right way, but neoliberals often lose a sense of perspective, ignore key issues of time and sequence, and confuse means with ends.

Macro stability has been misinterpreted with an exclusive focus on inflation rather than growth-oriented stability. The government should focus its attention on those activities in which the private sector cannot engage, thus it makes sense to privatize steel companies and other industries that the private sector can serve well.

Privatization

But when there are efficient government enterprises, such as the Korean steel mills or the Chilean copper mines, privatization may actually do little, and rather may deprive the government of severely needed revenue, especially if privatization is done poorly which is a frequent case. Privatizing monopolies without proper regulation has proven problematic around the world.

Similarly, some aspects of liberalization make sense, such as removing some regulations, but deregulating banking and liberalizing capital markets, especially if done excessively fast, has led to crises country after country and has been one of the biggest sources of global instability. Some of the problems in America today are the result of deregulation.

Economic inequality in America

Economic inequality in American started in the early years of the 70s decade which incurred after several years of economic stability. The country exhibited higher rates of inequality than most of the developed countries arguably because of the less regulated markets of the nation.

The income division in the US has not always been as vast as it is today. In response to the staggering economic inequality in the early years of the 1990s, progressive policymakers along with various social movements successfully fought so as to reduce taxation levels along with leveling up the bottom by means of increased unionization as well as other reforms.

The gap between rich and poor grew last year in the United States to its highest level in more than 50 years of records on inequality, according to figures from the Census Bureau.

Income inequality in the United States grew between 2017 and 2018, driven by large increases in several states in the heart of the United States. Still, the inequality rate remained higher in some wealthy coastal states. This inequality can be associated with the structural theory which stems that the problem of an individual is not only his problem. This refers that if a person is unable to access a healthcare facility for his child, then it is considered a family issue and has an impact on society. If the child fails to get good care, it means that the future generations are being neglected which can have a detrimental impact on society. Additionally, a parent needs to be at home every time to look after the child resulting in withdrawing from the workforce which can also mean that the economy lost a skilled worker.

An increased level of inequality within a country is closely associated with the distribution of income and wealth within a nation which can lead to poor outcomes for education, health, and happiness. The link between inequality and environmental impact is identified over a global level. According to the World Bank (2010), people living in countries having poorer economies are more exposed to disasters such as floods, drought as well as heatwaves. On the other side, high-income economies do have proper planning and better infrastructures to deal with environmental disasters.

Addressing inequality requires rethinking the problem. First, when it comes to fiscal policies and progressive taxation. Tax escalation is a fundamental aspect of effective tax policy. Our research shows that in the upper segment of the income distribution it is possible to raise marginal tax rates without sacrificing economic growth.

The use of digital tools in tax collection can also be part of a comprehensive strategy to stimulate internal revenue. Reducing corruption can improve collection and also strengthen confidence in the government. Most importantly, these strategies allow the generation of the necessary resources to make investments that multiply the opportunities for the communities and people who have been lagging behind.

Budgeting with a gender perspective is another valuable fiscal tool in the fight against inequality. Many countries recognize the need to improve gender equality and empower women, but governments can use gender budgeting to structure spending and taxation in ways that further drive gender equality; in turn, the increase in female participation in the labor force strengthens growth and stability.

Second, social spending policies are increasingly important in combating inequality. When well designed, they can be instrumental in mitigating income inequality and its negative effects on inequality of opportunity and social cohesion.

Education, for example, prepares young people so that as adults they will be productive citizens who contribute to society. Health care not only saves lives, but it can also improve the quality of life. Pension programs can help preserve the dignity of people in old age.

December 14, 2020 0 comment

Management Scholarly Writing

Modern Public Administration – Theory and Practice

by Shamsul June 5, 2020

Theory and Practice of Modern Public Administration

A Digitized Government Model

INTRODUCTION

The world today is very competitive and demanding. Society is better informed and expects more public organizations as well as private organizations. Public processes and institutions’ traditional products are less suited to the needs of individuals. Globalization, widespread use communication and information technologies, and the emergence of the knowledge society, among others, are rapidly changing the world order. This has created new challenges for the States, expectations of individuals with regard to public authorities having increased, applicants more demanding in terms of job content, and companies advocating more investments in education, health, and the community, but unwilling to pay more taxes (OECD, 2005). The personnel management systems adapt less well to these new challenges. Indeed, the traditional practices of public administration were born from different contexts in which the priorities were different. Now governments play a new role in society and take on new responsibilities but generally lack the tools necessary to manage them constructively. Public managers are expected to improve their performance by focusing on efficiency, effectiveness, and good administration, which weren’t among the priorities 50 years ago. Therefore, to be able to adapt to an environment in transition, the public sector must transform its structures, processes, procedures, and especially its culture (Bertot, Estevez and Janowski, 2016).

The introduction of change in the public sector is very controversial and complex because it affects, directly or indirectly, the interests and lifestyles of members of the society. Public and private organizations cannot economize on change if they want to survive in an increasingly globalized, highly interdependent, and rapid evolution. The purpose of this section is to explore the concepts of reform and change, examine the sources of change, define what change management is, and demonstrate the importance it has in the context of public service.

The concepts of change and reform Change and reform are two concepts commonly used in discourse political and intellectual. In politics, for example, policymaking is described as a change-oriented activity intended to transform, modify, or review the status quo (Christensen and Laegreid, 2007). The notions of change and reform are usually used interchangeably, which is not however not necessarily always judicious. Reform is just one of many ways to produce change; it corresponds to a particular method of solving problems. Sometimes the slightest reform leads to changes in organizations, in other cases, some reforms result in little or no change. If the change in the form of a transformation or modification may or may not be a voluntary phenomenon, reform is a structured and deliberate process of producing the change, whatever its magnitude. Reforms can affect policy areas, economic, social, and administrative and integrate reflections on problems and solutions (Driscoll and Morris, 2001). Butler (2003), on the other hand, argues that the change is historic, contextual, and procedural.

Two interesting aspects of this conceptualization of change must be highlighted. The first is that change can be presented as a process that describes the way things change over time. Pettigrew (2007) defines this process as a series of individual and collective events, actions, and activities that take place gradually in context. The second aspect is that change is dependent on the context. In this sense, context and action are linked. According to Brunsson (2006), the existence of problems, a wide range of solutions, and forgetfulness are the elements necessary for the implementation of reforms. The perception of present problems and future of an organization, whether public or private, encourages the implementation of changes. For example, the gap between what an organization is supposed to provide and the reality may trigger the need for reform. Sometimes reforms have consequences that justify the adoption of new reform measures. Reforms require also a good stock of potential solutions to present or future problems, which are sometimes strongly dependent on intellectual and/or practical modes of resolution of problems. Brunsson (2006) points out that fashion can reduce or increase the diversity of solutions because it limits the number of acceptable solutions.

In the late 80s and early 1990s, for example, New Public Management (NGP) was seen as the success of the moment in published work on public management (Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2004) and it has helped to generalize the use of a user, delegation and individualization, which is supposed to lend itself best to the modernization of public service management. The current success story right now is the government-wide approach (OECD, 2005; Christiensen and Laegreid, 2007), which proposes a more horizontal and not only vertical in order to remedy the disadvantages of NGP. Reforms can also be a repetition of somewhat reworked old reforms. Public administration and IT In an organization, information technology plays a very important role in terms of returns and increased market share. However, there is no guarantee that information technology alone can bring returns to the organization (Laudon & Laudon 2015).

This is due to the fact that there is an important role that is played by assets social assets, managerial assets, and organizational assets. All these assets help in optimization from information technology investments. Below are some of the aspects that play the part in making the company optimize the returns from the information technology investment when combined with social, managerial, and organizational assets. The first aspect is that favorable assets of the organization are a supportive culture of business where efficiency and effectiveness are valued. Inefficient business processes, there is a decentralization of authority, high distribution of rights, and a strong team of information system development. Organization assets play a very important role in the organization since they help in sharing the information from one department to another in the organization (Laudon & Laudon 2015). When there is an organizational environment that is favorable, each department and level in the organization contributes its operation chain part. This means that there is the availability of ready information to operations in the downstream as well as operations in the upstream. A good example is a supply chain system that is well implemented and used. The second aspect is the managerial asset. Managerial assets refer to managers’ collective abilities in an organization. When senior management is strong, it offers support for change in the organization. It also offers support to incentive systems that follow up, monitor, and rewarding those who have been innovative in the organization (Laudon & Laudon 2015).

It also encourages collaboration and team works, training of employees, and encouraging a management culture where knowledge and flexibility are valued. The managerial asset is considered a key factor of success in the organization, and the senior managers should the ones who are supposed to play part in the introduction and utilization of the information technology in the organization. A good example is the enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) such as SAP and PeopleSoft. There would be a better outcome on the introduction of new technologies if there is a senior management team that is strong and a team that offers support on changes in the organization. Also, it is the responsibility of the senior management to make sure that everyone in the organization is computer literate, and this is done by ensuring that every employee in the organization receives basic computer training.

The third aspect is the social asset and it includes the internet and the telecommunication infrastructure and educational programs with the aim of increasing computer literacy. When it comes to business success, the internet plays a very important role (Sheung 2014). It is the fast way in which a business connects with customers and clients. Some of the uses of the internet in the business are online marketing and advertisement, e-commerce, it enhances the relationship between the organization and the customers. In this era of the internet, it has become easier and cheap to promote a product and a service. It is cheaper to advertise a product on social media channels compared to traditional channels such as television. In addition, the chances of advert reaching the target audience are very high since there are a lot of internet users. Secondly, companies are able to sell their products online through e-commerce sites. This has been made possible by the availability of the internet (Sheung 2014). Customers just search for a product they want on the company’s site, make an order, and then the product is delivered to the customer.

The Internet is also a good platform to communicate with customers and customers’ feedback is used to improve customer service as well as the product itself. There must be telecommunication infrastructure in order to have internet connectivity. These include computers, cables and the source of the internet. The second one making sure that the labor force is computer literate. This is through training programs in the organization. There are benefits that are associated with having a computer literate labor force in the Public Administration organization. These benefits are; most of the work in the organization requires computer knowledge (Sheung 2014). These activities include typing and data as well as researching and communicating with clients and customers online. The second benefit of productivity. Computer literate employees are usually productive compared to computer illiterate employees.

Workplace Aggression | Scholarly | Academic

Trends in Electropolishing – Scholarly Presentation

References

Bertot, J., Estevez, E.& Janowski, T. (2016).Universal and contextualized public services: Digital public service innovation framework: Elsevier

Christensen, T. et P. Laegreid (2007), « The Whole-of-Government Approach to Public Sector Reform », Public Administration Review, November December, Vol. 6, 6 edition, Blackwell Publishing Ltd,

pp.1059 – 1066

Driscoll A. et J. Morris (2001), « Stepping out: Rhetorical Devices and Culture Change Management in the

UK Civil Service », Public Administration, Vol. 79, No.4, pp. 803 – 824.

Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (2015). Management information systems (p. 143). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.

Sheung, C. T. (2014). E-Business; The New Strategies And Business Ethics, that Leads Organizations to Success. Global Journal of Management and Business Research.

June 5, 2020 0 comment

Business Scholarly

Impact of Globalization on the Banking Industry of Egypt

by Shamsul January 10, 2020

Introduction

The banking sector is rendered to be the most important economic sector and is the most responsive and influential towards changes whether on an international or national basis (Kenaway, 2010). In the last two decades, the banking industry in Egypt has undergone various changes. The increasing trend of international trade had a deepening impact on the need to globalize banks. There have been imposed extensive regulatory changes, advancements in information as well as banking technologies along with an increase in the integration of international financial institutions and markets. This has created new challenges and opportunities for the banking industry. Although, these have provided an expanded opportunity to the banking industry; however, the completive pressure on the global banking arena has also increased. With the existence of banks in this increasingly globally competitive environment, there is a direct link between performance and efficient operation.

Banking in Egypt

Egypt has experienced a procedure of continuous development as well as the reform of the banking system so as to improve the performance level as well as its role in the national economy. This new phase came after various phases experienced by the Egyptian banking system. The era after the revolution of 1952 to the beginning of the 1970s, there was a stage of nationalization and the integration of Egyptian banks.

The result of this was the establishment of large scale banking units and the entire banking sector comprises one central bank and 4 commercial banks owned by the public sector along with few specialized banks. From 1974 to the advent of the 1980s, the implementation of the open door policy allowed foreign banks to operate in the country. In accordance with this, the mechanism performance and the banking policy handling at this stage had an impact by the increasing level of competition between the banks and the increasing funding within the banking system to that of the private sector. Since 1997, until now there have been made various revolutions for making the banking industry globalized through the efficient application of the rules governing financial controlling and supervision (National Bank of Egypt, 2001).

PESTLE Analysis of the Impact of Globalization on the Egyptian Banking Sector

PEST analysis is considered to be a useful strategic tool in order to understand the growth and decline, the business position as well as the potential and direction of the operations (Kotler, 1998). PESTLE analysis is very useful for the strategic analysis, business and product development, market planning as well as for making researches. Moreover, this analysis is also very useful when any company decides to enter into a new industry of operations as well as in new countries.

Political and Governmental Factors on Banking (Egypt)

Under generic conditions, the Middle East and Egypt, in particular, experienced abnormal changes within its governmental and political cabinets. For example, the Tunisian president fled to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after being in power for 23 years. Moreover, Hosni Mubarak stepped down as the president of Egypt after several weeks of protest in the capital as well as in other cities of the country after being in power for 30 years. The change in the policies of the government is unavoidable because the existing policies are inefficient and allow a huge number of citizens to suffer from basic services and human rights. This instability in political and governmental factors will have a direct effect on business transactions and the money in the economy will flow more freely.

Political Changes:

Furthermore, there is also a need to determine all political changes which can impose an impact on the banking industry in the country. Egypt is a democratic republic where the laws are more concerned with the health and safety of the citizens such as environmental workplace and labor laws. If there occurs any amendment within the legislation in the policies of the cabinet, presidential authorities, parliament bylaws as well as in governmental and federal laws with respect to responsibilities and authorities will have a direct effect on the banking industry of the country.

Political Instability in Security and Safety (Egypt)

Another political factor that greatly impacts the banking industry in Egypt is the instability in security and safety in some areas of the country, particularly after the Hosni Mubarak regime. This affects the business environment directly and the number of foreign banks investing in the country declined at a significant rate.

Economic Factors on Banking (Egypt)

Economic factors are influenced by political and governmental decisions. The country has experienced rapid changes in the price of its import and export bill along with frequent changes in its tax and currency exchange rates. Since these factors have both opportunities and threats; it can affect the banking industry directly as well as indirectly.

The growth rate of Egypt is growing significantly and the provision of safety and security in doing business is being better at an overall basis. Since the main issue of the banking sector is related to capital markets which tend to define the alternative types of funding requirements of the companies; it falls within the control of the government which is subject to change in economic conditions. For example, when the interest rate changes it will have a direct effect by inflation and international economies even though the rate is fixed by the central bank.

Socio-Cultural Factors on Banking (Egypt)

Companies needs to understand the change in demographics with respect to the changes in the population structure by regions, age, affluence, and number of working population which can greatly impact the demand on not only for particular [products and services but, also on the whole, for example, the rate of unemployment is between 20-40% since 2006 whereas, the growth rate of population is around 2.5%. this will increase the threat to existing products however, the opportunities for market differentiation and segmentation may emerge as well.

Globalization has its effect on a cross-cultural basis which includes changes in trends, habits, customs, values, etc. these changes can take place in various ways, for example, media and can affect the purchasing intention of the people. The dawn of the 21^st century opened borders for multinational corporations to enter the country and there have been drafted various policies so as to attract foreign investors which will have a direct effect on the social and cultural life of the country.

Technological Factors on Banking (Egypt)

The development and advancement in technological aspects especially, the development of the Silicon Valley companies has greatly affected the banking sector. The banking sector in the country needs to operate with advanced technology in terms of retrieving and saving data and information for its products and services like ATM cards. Moreover, there are many banks who have been suffering from hacking attempts and have lost millions of dollars along with bearing on their image which has turned negative. Under such circumstances, the Egyptian banking system should acquire the world-class security system and implement an advanced internet service so as to improve customer confidence.

Legal Factors

Although there are corporate governance laws listed in the Stock Exchange of the country; however, there are still certain drawbacks in the legal protection of investors, especially for small investors. This became a big threat for businesses as the rights and equitable treatment of the shareholders, responsibilities of the board; ethical behavior of the companies as well as the disclosure of transparency is unclear in the Egyptian legal system for both private and public sector companies. This leads to problems in investing in the country because of lacking legal structures.

Environment Factors

Investing and providing support in green projects is the basic environmental factor that will enhance the image of the banking sector amongst the stakeholders thereby, attracting more investors and customers. In addition to this, the conservative perspective towards making the environment better in both governmental and non-governmental organizations are crucial factors that affect the banking sector in Egypt.

Recommendations:

The country needs to work upon its regulatory framework which requires the homogeneity of the controlling forms within different types of banks operating in Egypt that need to be considered. Restructuring towards universal banking and the public policy should be transparent and should have clear and set deadlines for enforcement and accountability purposes.
The level of corporate governance, as well as the management level in banks, also needs to be improved. The government should implement the discipline of private markets to be the major component of the regulatory regime in addition to strong enforcing mechanisms and good rules.
The banking sector should focus more on new advertising mediums from where millions of customers can obtain information about the product and services offered by these banks. In other words, the banks should incorporate a complete and efficient IT system so as to manage and retrieve data that can be effective in developing a proper customer relationship management system thereby, understanding more about the customers and improving services.
Banks should work upon the communication skills of the employees along with increasing their level of general knowledge related to the preferences and culture of their customers. In general, various training and development programs should be designed so as to upgrade the staff level of willingness so as to serve the customers at a higher level.

HR Management Plan in the Refinery

Dreams Come True with Operations Management

References

AbdelazizTouny, Mahmoud, 2014. Macroeconomic Determinants of Banking Sector Development: A Comparison Study between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Advances in Management & Applied Economics, [Online]. 4/3, 18. Available at: http://www.scienpress.com/Upload/AMAE/Vol%204_3_10.pdf [Accessed 05 December 2015].
Analyzing Growth Strategies of Banking Sectors: A case study on Kurdistan International Bank (PDF Download Available). 2015. Analyzing Growth Strategies of Banking Sectors: A case study on Kurdistan International Bank (PDF Download Available). [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/259577376_Analyzing_Growth_Strategies_of_Banking_Sectors_A_case_study_on_Kurdistan_International_Bank. [Accessed 05 December 2015].
Bexley, Bond and Maniam, James B., Paul and Bala, 2011. The globalization of commercial banking. Research in Business and Economics Journal, [Online]. -, 10. Available at: http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/11891.pdf [Accessed 05 December 2015].
El-Shazly, Alaa , 2010. Incentive-Based Regulations and Bank Restructuring in Egypt. –, [Online]. -, 27. Available at: http://www.luc.edu/orgs/meea/volume3/elsahzly.pdf [Accessed 05 December 2015].
Molouk Kenawy, Ezzat , 2009. Globalization and its Effects on the Banking System performance in Egypt. Ozean Journal of Applied Sciences, [Online]. 1, 17. Available at: http://ozelacademy.com/OJAS_v2n1_8.pdf [Accessed 05 December 2015].

January 10, 2020 0 comment

Business Management Marketing Scholarly

A Case Study On Refah Stores Co

by Shamsul December 5, 2019

Management Control System

A Case Study at Refah Chain Stores Co

Abstract

Management control systems (MCS) in the retail sector are more likely to assume particular characteristics as within this setting, shared administration with various types of organizations having different objectives and visions. What is at stake is the management of the network of relationships as well as the management of behaviors in the organization that is a part of this network.

The concept of MCS is not new and the exploration of the concept in the retail sector is abundant. This research aims in presenting a way for further researches. A model is based upon a case study of Refah Stores. A detailed explanation of the management control process at Refah Stores is presented. The results found that the cultural barrier is not a major issue within the organization a there are many strategies to combat such a situation. Feedback and opinions are considered to be an important aspect as it will lead to a high level of cooperation amongst employees.

Introduction

Background of Management Control Systems

Refah Chain Stores Co.

Literature review

Management and Control

Management Control Systems

Planning

Cultural Controls

Cybernetic Controls

Administrative Controls

Methodology

Empirical Data

Empirical Material

Management Control Systems (MCSs) at Refah Stores Chain Co

Cultural Controls

Planning Controls

Cybernetic controls

Rewards and Compensations

Analysis

Conclusion

Introduction

Background of Management Control Systems

The concept of management control system emerged after the Industrial Revolution which provided organizations with the opportunity to expand and grow in their business operations like never before. Most parts of the value chain were located within both new and bigger firms rather than being spread over at different positions within smaller firms or a single person. With the occurrence of these changes, there was a need to consider financial measurement in the form of business ratios as well as transfer pricing to be very important and this was the point from where various forms of management control systems initiated (Merchant & Van der Stede, 2007; Ax, Johansson & Kullvén, 2007).

Refah Chain Stores Co.

Refah is an Iran-based chain of supermarkets which is currently operating across the country with 160 branches. Additionally, the company also has branches in Turkey and Iraq. The retailer is engaged in the provision of a wide range of products in the lines of Fresh Produce, Food and Beverages, Electronics and Home Appliances, Cosmetics and Hygiene, Stationaries, Textiles, and Clothing. The slogan for Refah chains is ‘Better quality, lower prices”. The chain of stores is also adequately tapping the online market and customers who order online get it delivered at their doorstep. In association with Hyperstar-owned Carrefour and Shahrvand Supermarket, Refah Chain of Stores caters to the bulk demand of the Iranian retail industry.

The main objective of the study is to asses and determines the management control system at the Refah Chain of Stores. The report will explain how some management control systems are being used at different organizational levels and how every management control system is related with each other.

Literature Review

Management and Control

Management control is rendered to be the back-end of the management process and is a very critical function within an organization. Failure to implement an adequate management control system can result in huge financial losses, damage to reputation and in many cases ultimate organizational failure as well. Though, it is important; however, too much control also does not always guarantee better controls some management control systems may utilize stifle initiative, innovation, and creativity (Albertini and Muzzi, 2016).

Management

Management is related with the process of organizing the various resources and directing all activities so as to attain organizational goals.

Objective Setting

Understating objectives is a very crucial factor in the designing of a management control system. Objectives do not need to be quantified and may not be even financial. Most of the companies are aware about organizational objectives however; many times employees may not even know these objectives (Chenhall, 2003).

Formulation of Strategies

Strategies tend to define as to how firms will use their resources so that objectives can be effective. Many times employees may take actions that derive in better results than that of formulated strategy thereby, creating a difference between the actual strategy and the formal strategy. Hence, formal strategic statements are not obligatory for formulating MCSs however; it can make the process easier for the management to identify the feasible options available for management control as well as the way through which it can be effectively implemented (Merchant and Van Der Stede, 2007).

Management Control Systems

According to Hared and Abdullah (2013), management control systems are those rules, values, practices as well as other activities which are placed by the management so as to direct the behavior of employees (Malmi and Brown, 2008). According to Merchant and Van der Stede (2007), MCS can either be a single system and it can be a set of control systems as well. MCS is commonly referred to as MCS package as is that different types of MCSs have been applied at different times and for differing purposes (Malmi and Brown, 2008).

The MCS package can be categorized into five distinct groups namely planning, cultural controls, cybernetics controls, administrative controls and rewards, and compensation.

Planning

Planning refers to the way in which goals are set for the company as well as for the various functions of the company. The planning is the major carrier to promote goal similarity amongst the organization and the employees working. Planning can further be categorized into two broader aspects – long-range planning and action planning. Long-range planning has a strategic focus whereas action planning has a tactical focus and is associated with planning for actions and goals which is to incur within 12 months.

Cultural Controls

Cultural control is important to control employee behavior in three distinct ways. The first one is that when the company deliberately searches and hire those employees who have certain desired values. These values are linked with the organizational strategy. The second is somewhat the opposite of the first category and in this aspect, the company attempts to change the values of employees. These are also referred to as symbol-based controls which are visually illustrated (Malmi and Brown, 2008). The third category explains to the employees what is expected from them, what values they should possess as well as whether the employees tend to be in agreement with them or not (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007).

Cybernetic Controls

This is basically the study of controlling in as well as of the system (Malmi and Brown, 2008). In the context of an organization, there is a process which involves a feedback loop and is presented by using standards measuring the performance of the systematic comparison of the performance with the standards, providing feedback about the information related to undesired variances within the system as well as altering the comportment of the system.

Administrative Controls

According to Davila, Foster, and Li (2009), administrative controls monitor employee behavior throughout the organization and holding employees accountable for their behaviour through specifying as to how tasks need to be performed. Administrative controls are further divided into the organizational structure which serves as a tool for management control, policies, and procedures which tends to organize the behavior and processes of the firm and governance structure which involves the formal line of authority and accountability.

Methodology

The aim of this report is to determine the management control process at Refah Chain Stores Co. and how it is implemented within the object organization.

In such cases, qualitative methods are considered to be very helpful to create or develop reasonable structures so to provide an alternate route for the development of theories. These approaches can be used as a part of refining existing literature and theories (Thompson, Gamble and Strickland, 2004).

According to Yin (2008), in-depth analysis helps in examining a phenomenon that includes aspects that are beyond formal instructions and rules therefore, in this report a case study analysis will be undertaken. The different components of the model will be explained and applied in the analyzed case.

The case study is of Refah Chain Stores Co. and the sources from where data is obtained are structured evaluation of events, semi-structured interviews, collection of relevant documents and content analysis.

Empirical Data

History and Facts of Refah Store Chain

Refah Chain Stores Co. was established 24 years ago in 1995 in Iran with the direct support of that time president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The chain of supermarkets is engaged in providing a wide range of products including Fresh Produce, Food and Beverages, Electronics and Home Appliances, Cosmetics and Hygiene, Stationaries, Textile, and Clothing. The store is operating with 160 branches across Iran along with operations in Iraq, UAE, and Turkey.

The chain of stores is mainly owned by major government banks where Bank Melli owes 19.8% of shares, Bank Saderat owes 14.2% of shares, Bank Mellat owes 10.1% of shares, and Bank Tejarat owes 9.5% of shares and Bank Sepah with9.4% of shares. Remaining shares are owned by individual peoples.

Refah Stores is operating three different types of stores amongst its outlets; about 160 are branches that are located in key provinces. Amongst these, about 45 stores are situated in Karaj and Tehran which is a clear indication of the company’s concentration within these cities. The second type of outlet is those which are not completely owned by Refah Chain and are operating in affiliation with other firms and such types of stores are three in total. The third type of outlet is basically retailers of whose products are delivered by Refah and the debit card of whom is accepted. There are 723 outlets of this form spread throughout the country.

Empirical Material

The empirical material for this work was obtained through interviews. Managers at different levels of the organizational structure were interviewed and all interviews were conducted on the phone

The Vision and Mission of Refah Stores

Vision and mission are the core of any model. Vision can be referred to as an aspirational explanation as to what the company is willing to attain in the longer term. It serves as a guide for selecting current as well as the future course of action. Alongside this, a mission is a declaration of the core purpose and focus of the organization which tends to remain the same over time.

According to Ferreira and Otley (2009), vision and mission are considered as a management control process of an organization since it delivers information as to how organizational values and purposes are established as well as communicated as a way to influence the behavior of all participants in the organization.

The vision of Refah Stores is to emerge as a multi-format retailer that has the capacity to deliver the best in class margins, sales and profitably operates within strategic locations inside Iran and in other countries of operation.

The mission statement of Refah Stores is to remain committed with the promise of delivering great experience through high quality and distinct products at reasonable prices, served by dynamic and dedicated employees who are guided by the core values laid down by the founders of the Stores.

Organizational Structure

Organizational structure is a way to integrate management control which operates by functional specialization and organizational design has an impact over various controls that can be applied (Malmi & Brown, 2008). According to Albahari et al. (2011), inappropriate organizational infrastructure can result in a configuration gap which can eventually negatively impact the control system within organizations. Refah Stores is undergoing a reorganizing procedure that aims towards creating an organizational structure that provides support to coordination and faster decision. The purpose of such a structure is to help in coordinating as well as visualizing opportunities along with determining weaker areas. This structure will benefit Refah in the transferring of information and communication between the warehouse and the retail stores.

Management Control Systems (MCSs) at Refah Stores Chain Co

Cultural Controls

Employees in Refah Store Chain are selected very carefully and in accordance with the requirement of the position. Like any other supermarket, there are a whole lot of people who are working together and are from diverse backgrounds as well as specializations. As a result, there is a fusion of various cultures which can result in the arising of complications amongst the employees. Culture plays a very important role in the supermarket industry as they need to continually evolve in order to become innovative as well as deal with new processes and ideas (Albahari et al. 2011). To foster this process, relationships should be carried out smoothly and easily between people and all informal relations are strengthened at every level. Routines, bureaucracy and restricted formal relationships are discarded and managers are required to invest all their efforts to strengthen trust between people working inside the supermarkets.

The store has provided uniforms to its employees. All employees have been provided with the same uniform without any command except that of in the butchery section.

When a new employee is hired, he/she is trained for on-floor dealings for almost a week. This training involves understanding the working procedure of the store as well as educating about selling and customer relations. Additional training will be provided over the basis of function and position.

Planning Controls

Usually, two planning control systems are being used in Refah Stores which include business and budget plans. Business plans are made for 5 years whereas; budgets are developed for one year. The process of developing a business plan is simultaneous with budgeting. The business plan is developed for all superstores of the chain and is then divided into regional business plans for every store by the managers. The process is that the top management guides lower-level management and determines what areas need to be focused more. However, the store management and team have the right to apply whichever guideline is applicable and can implement actions that they consider to be more important for the development of the store. For example, if the need is to reduce the waiting time at counters, adequate measures need to be undertaken to reduce waiting time and increase customer satisfaction.

Personnel planning are another important aspect within management control (Chan & Pretorius, 2007). Planning about the budget involves planning about store staff as the cost of hiring and recruiting staff is considerable and needs to be considered in the process of budgeting. Every store has a staff planner which aims in planning staff which matches the requirements of the customers to working hours. To conduct this effectively, a cross-functional staff system is applied in which the staff members can work in different areas of the store which will be in accordance with the laid staff plan.

Cybernetic Controls

Cybernetic controls at Refah Stores are action-planning and long-range planning. Budgets are used at the time of investments and most of the time KPI’s are used to measure daily, weekly, the monthly and yearly performance of stores. KPI’s comprises of both financial and non-financial factors such as cost and budget are financial factors whereas, safety and quality are rendered to be non-financial factors of KPIs.

Budget is initiated from the top management within stores where forecasts of cost and sales are set at a percentage of sales. Additionally, in the process of budgeting, different scenarios are also considered which can be used later on in case the actual sales and cost incurred are higher or lower than what was forecasted.

Apart from productivity and sales measures, Refah Stores also integrates other non-financial measurements such as market, the customer as well as an employee survey. The surveys are being standardized on a yearly basis through external companies and the data obtained is compared with other stores and with the results of the previous year’s survey. In this way, the store recognizes improvements or any deterioration within these aspects.

Rewards and Compensations

Refah stores use one reward system in their stores across the country as it makes it easier and fairer to administer and evaluate. At the store level, a premium salary system is applied where equal amounts are paid to workers – on-floor and off-floor – based upon their performance. Additionally, individual monetary awards are also provided to staff members who have given an extraordinary performance and have effectively contributed towards the attainment of store goals and objectives.

Alongside the usual payroll system, Refah Stores also works through feedback and activities as a means to show appreciation. The basic idea behind this process is to motivate employees in making self-made plans as to what they are willing to achieve at Refah Sores. The store also makes efforts to use internal recruitment so as to encourage and satisfy employees and ensure that the organizational culture is intact with the store.

Analysis

The culture at Refah Stores is strongly influenced by the labor culture in Iran which comprises of entrepreneurship, cost-effectiveness, and equality. Additionally, the culture is also influenced by increased focus over sales and target attainment.

The management control system focuses over directing the behavior of employees in the desired manner through different controls within a management control package (Merchant & Van der Stede, 2007). In the case of Refah Stores, efforts are being invested in developing a strong corporate culture where employees are hired according to the requirements of the position and are further trained and polished so that they serve as productive assets of the company.

Administrative controls are those controls that involve organizational structure, policies and procedures and governance structure (Malmi and Brown, 2008). Every store of Refah is operating with a single organizational and governance structure and is designed to foster communication, support, and control through various means. Guidelines related to company target and communication are spread over different levels of the organizational structure like that of regular staff meetings.

As Malmi and Brown (2008) indicate, planning is divided into action planning and long term planning at Refah Stores. Long-term planning involves developing a business plan and segregating it into the requirements of individual stores whereas, budgeting is prepared from the top level and guidelines are provided to middle-level and low-level managers. The forecast is based upon a particular percentage of sales and every store needs to adapt this even though they can impact numbers by providing their own forecast.

Cybernetic controls include financial and non-financial measurements in which budgeting refers to the financial measurement and quality and security refer to nonfinancial measurements. The cost of personnel is the largest cost category of Refah Stores and is measured through the ratio of sales. Being a larger retailer in the Iranian market implies a different form of inventory management for controlling their stock level and if it is required products are offered at reduced rates so as to get them sold out. This implies that the store can maintain a low level of inventory.

Both financial and non-financial measurement systems are incorporated which forms for a hybrid management system. According to Nørreklit (2003), the method of balanced scorecards allows managers to consider the organization from four distinct perspectives including internal perspective, customer perspective, financial perspective and learning and innovation perspectives. At Refah stores internal, financial and customer perspectives are highlighted. Innovation perspective is not measured even though; a lot of work is initiated in this aspect.

Conclusion

Refah Stores has a strong corporate culture which is apparent in its working conditions. The corporate culture is based upon equality and cost-consciousness and the management control process is set as a framework for directing employee behavior as well as demonstrating the direction of the store operations.

The measurement system at Refah Stores is detailed which allows the store to understand how the store performs and as such take actions accordingly. The measurement systems are used to effectively control resources.

The planning process at Refah is appropriate and involves sales staff within the planning process. Staff members are motivated to present their feedback and ideas so that the store can benefit from them.

The management control process involves various management controlling which some aspects may be complementary and some may overlap. The results may overlap with the cultural control process. It appears to be very reasonable to use both the forms of controls which will increase the level of motivation within the stores.

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