Trade Growth and Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Trade Growth and Development - Essay Example International trade is a trade or exchange of goods between two or more nations. This can be at the individual level, organizational, company level, or at the government level. International trade occurs when there is movement of goods across national borders. Economic growth is the increase in a country’s production measured in Gross National Product or Gross National Income or income per capita (Nafziger 2005). A sign of growth in the economy is shown by the boost in the quantity of trade conducted in a country, setting up of buildings, roads among other visible factors. Economic development, on the other hand, encompasses economic growth as well as the additional factors of changes in output distribution and economic structure (Nafziger 2005). The changes include improvements in the welfare of the citizens, their level of happiness, as well as, their physical health conditions among others. Contribution of International Trade in Economic Growth and Development Looking at the impact that international trade has had on the growth and development of economies, this article will divide the impacts into two parts namely; the impacts on the developing countries and the impacts on the developed countries. Each of the two categories will look at the gains and losses that have been the result of international trade on different economies. As the previous paragraph has suggested, there are varying implications of international trade in the different economies. The first focus is based on the developing world. It explores the positive and negative impacts of international trade on the developing world.... Additionally, specialization allows a country to stick to what it can best produce and leave what it cannot to those that can do so. This leads to economic growth and development because when it specializes in what it can do best, it’s able to maximize its resources and invest proceeds on welfare services like hospitals and roads which are vital indicators of growth and development of the economy. At the same time, the costs of production are prohibitive in most developing countries. Essentially, industries incur high costs to produce commodities and then charge high prices for goods. Among other reasons, most developing economies are labour intensive when it comes to production of their goods. Though the positive aspect of this is that it has created employment to a lot of people, it, however, is costly to the government. The benefit of international trade is that it allows importation of machinery that makes production cheaper and thus enhances the efficient production of go ods. As a result, the quality of manufactured goods improves thus allowing the countries to gain more from their products as a result of increased value of exports. Due to unfavourable balance of trade, the least developing countries have also opted to embrace the concept of value addition (Morton 2011). This means that they export some finished products though they account for about 10% of their income from export (Morton 2011). Though the level of processing is not as high as it is in many developed countries, the developing countries have managed to reach a level of being manufactures and semi-manufacturers as the line between manufacturing and owning raw products is blurred (Morton 2011). This is a

Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Research Paper Example However, the number of teenage pregnancy in sub- Saharan nations leads the worldwide pack. On the contrary, the teenagers who find themselves pregnant face additional medical problems for their newborn babies. Mostly, these babies tend to be under weight during birth due to the ages of their mothers. On the other hand, teenage pregnancies tend to draw influence from a number of factors. First, the social issue that may include education level is a crucial influence. Additionally, the economic status from which a teenager comes from is a factor that brings about this societal problem. With these facts in mind, this paper will illustrate how teenage pregnancies tend to influence early childhood education as per a number of peer-reviewed articles as sources. Personal reflection Over the years, teenage pregnancies have greatly affected the learning progress of teenagers and young adults. In my view, society pays minimal attention to the risks involved in the discontinuity of education fo r teenagers. Arguably, the effects of teenage pregnancies vary from health related risks to emotional torment and discomfort. The health risks are greater than the other risks, as there are also the risks of contracting sexually transmitted infections. However, many teenagers have focused on pregnancies and have neglected the fact that their general reproductive health may also be at risk due early indulgence in sexual related activities. On the contrary, teenage pregnancies have found ways in which teenagers have sought to do away with the issue in secret. One of the ways in which the teenagers deal with unplanned teenage pregnancies is unsafe abortions that the authorities may not be aware of. Incidentally, unsafe abortions are the leading killers within teenagers with the mortality rates rising by the day. Ideally, the loss of a generation would mean that the education system would suffer in the end because the alarming death rates may disrupt the learning process. In this regard , reproductive health is the key aspect in which the education syllabus should base its criteria for teaching in order to ensure the number of those that discontinue learning reduces by an incredible rate. Without this, teenage pregnancies will forever remain a constant hurdle that the society will have to encounter due to the poor planning structures. Essentially, the key to minimizing the teenage pregnancies is the application of reproductive health topics within the education curricular without society being modest in any way. Causes and effects of teenage pregnancies Over the years, teenage pregnancy has become the main cause for the rise in the number of high school dropouts. Essentially, schooling forms the basic part to a comfortable future for any young boy or girl. For a woman, the amount of schooling reflects on her professional carrier, her ability to get married, and remarkably her life standards. In this regard, it is critical for a young woman to determine the time to which is appropriate for her to conceive so that her future remains as prosperous as intended. Incidentally, child upbringing is a demanding task hence the time spent on this business should have been on other matters like schooling especially for the young adults. Intense researches have shown that early teenage pregnancy may be detrimental to a woman’s life because it raises the chances of her not finishing her education compared to her childless peers. This is to mean that early parenthood lowers their chances of exploring their full

Bronchial Colonization in Pulmonary Resection Patients

Bronchial Colonization in Pulmonary Resection Patients Bronchial colonization profile of patients undergoing lung resection and its impact on infectious complications in the postoperative period. Is it necessary to evaluate the collection method and risk of contamination? Abstract: Introduction: The pattern of bronchial colonization in patients requiring pulmonary resections is little described in the literature. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the profile of bronchial colonization in patients undergoing lung resection in a general hospital through the collection of the resected specimen only. The secondary objective is to evaluate prognostic factors of infectious complications after lung resection, including the colonization of the lower airways. Methods: This was a prospective study that included all consecutive patients undergoing lung resection for noninfectious disease and without signs of acute respiratory infections. Intraoperative bronchial or lung parenchyma culture of the resected specimen was collected by the surgeon still under completely sterile conditions. A patient was considered colonized if the quantitative endobronchial culture was positive at 48h with a predominant microorganism exceeding a cutoff value of 104 colony-forming units. Results: Negative cultures were found in 81.4% of patients. Colonization with predominant bacteria (at least 104 cfu/mL) was identified in 18.6%. The rate of infectious complications was 24.42%. The incidence of postoperative pneumonia (POP) was 20.9%. POP developed at a median of 4 days after surgery. Three patients developed empyema, and of the three, 2 had both POP and empyema. None of the studied factors was associated with postoperative infectious complications Conclusion: We conclude there is colonization of the lower airways in patients undergoing lung resection in our institution. This finding, as well as the other analyzed factors, did not result in increased POP risk in this sample. The intraoperative collection method employed in this study should be further evaluated in larger studies. Introduction The lungs of healthy humans have traditionally been considered to be sterile when examined by culture-based techniques (1). In patients with lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cystic fibrosis, colonization of the lower airways (LAWs) has been well documented and associated to these diseases [2-5]. Regarding the subgroup of patients with lung diseases requiring thoracic surgeries, very few studies have described the profile of colonization of LAWs. And to the best of our knowledge, there has been no description of this subject in a Latin American country (3,6-8). However, the colonization of LAW has been associated with the risk of postoperative pneumonia (POP). Schussler et al., in a study with 507 patients and Bede et al., showed that there is significant association between bacteria in the lower airways and risk of POP [3,9], being an independent risk factor in the multivariate analysis. A study was carried out including all consecutive patients undergoing pulmonary resections for noninfectious diseases to investigate the profile of LAW colonization. The secondary objective is to evaluate prognostic factors of infectious complications after lung resection, including LAW colonization. Materials and Methods This prospective study consecutively included all patients submitted to lung resection for noninfectious diseases, without signs of acute respiratory infections. Patients presenting at the date of admission for planned surgery with clinical and radiological signs of pulmonary infection (fever greater than 37.7 °C, purulent sputum) were excluded from this study in cases of urgency surgery. Except for the urgencies, patients were treated with antibiotics and submitted to surgery at least 7 days after antibiotic discontinuation. Patients with a diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis were also excluded. The study was approved by the ethics committee of our institution under protocol number 209146141. All data on patient characteristics, results of microbiological studies, treatment procedures and outcome (POP) were prospectively collected through our database. We studied the following risk factors for POP: age, gender, surgical risk classification of the American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA), cancer patients and the presence of bacteria in the lower airways. All patients were intubated with a double-lumen endobronchial tube to undergo single-lung ventilation. Bronchial or pulmonary parenchyma culture of the resected specimen was collected by the surgeon still under completely sterile conditions. A patient was considered colonized if a 48-hour culture was positive with the presence of a microorganism. A policy of early extubation was systematically employed. Decisions concerning intensive care unit (ICU) admission after resection were established based on type of resection, predicted postoperative lung function and associated comorbidities. Postoperative analgesia was achieved through one of the following methods: use of epidural catheter intermittently or intermittent intravenous analgesia with morphine and dipyrone. A regular physical therapy program was started on the day of the surgery. Oral feeding was started on Postoperative Day 1. Patients received antibiotic prophylaxis with second-generation cephalosporin (cefazolin, 2.0 g at anesthesia induction and postoperatively, 3 g/24 h for 24 h) except in cases of known or suspected allergy, or if a different type of prophylaxis was indicated [4,10]. Lung resections were performed according to standard techniques. The type of resection was recorded. The diagnoses were established by anatomopathological analysis of the resected lung specimens. Patients were assessed twice a day. Chest roentgenograms were performed postoperatively once a day during the chest drainage period. POP definition was (1) abnormal radiographic findings (new or changing radiographic infiltrates that persisted after physical therapy or bronchoaspiration) and (2) fever greater than 37.8 oC or dyspnea, and (3) one of the following criteria: a new rise in C-reactive protein level, WBC count in the previous 24 h (with WBC count > 12109/L) [3] or an increase and modification of the expectorate. All postoperative pulmonary complications were secondarily reviewed by a clinician and a thoracic surgeon. Infections occurring within one month of surgery or during in-hospital surgical stay were recorded. Wound infection was defined as a reddened, painful, and indurated wound, not necessarily associated with bacterial isolation. Empyema was defined as the presence of purulent fluid in the pleural drainage or as the isolation of pathogens from the pleural cavity. Results are expressed as percentages and means  ± standard deviation (SD). The correlation between the studied variables and postoperative infection was performed by logistic regression analysis. Data processing and analysis were performed using the statistical software MedCalc, release 12.7.0.0. A p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The risk factors found to be predictive of POP at univariate analysis were entered into a multivariate regression analysis, to identify independent variables. Results Between June 15, 2012, and December 15, 2013, 86 patients undergoing lung resections in our department were included in the study. Three patients were excluded from the study due to preexisting infections at the time of surgery (infectious interstitial lung disease) and six due to a diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. Antibiotic prophylaxis with drugs other than cefazolin was employed in three patients due to known allergy to penicillin/cephalosporins or because of coexistent cardiac valve disease. Demographic data on the remaining 86 patients, type of diseases and surgical procedures are shown in Table 1. Cancer patients comprised 53.4% of the sample. Among them, primary lung tumors (non-small cell lung cancer) were treated through major lung resection (lobectomy or pneumonectomy). Pulmonary metastases were treated through segmentectomy. Also regarding cancer patients, some patients were submitted to segmentectomy for diagnosis of interstitial infiltrate, which showed to be lymphangitic carcinomatosis. Among the benign diseases, lobectomy and pneumonectomy were used in all patients with bronchiectasis. Segmentectomy was used for interstitial lung diseases and benign nodules that included patients with scar tissue and inflammatory nodules, in addition to hamartomas. Regarding the length of preoperative hospital length of stay, 52% of patients were admitted 1 (one) day prior to surgery (Figure 1). Negative cultures were obtained in 70 of 86 (81.4%) patients. Colonization with predominant bacteria was identified in 16 of 86 cases (18.6%). Colonization by pathogenic bacteria occurred in 10.4% of all patients (9/86). Staphylococcus, Enterobacter, Acinetobacter baumannii and Escherichia coli species represented the most frequently involved microorganisms (Table 2). Gram-negative bacteria were obtained from cultures in nine cases. None of the patients had polymicrobial colonization. The complication rate was 24.4% (21/86). The incidence of POP was 20.9% (18 /86). POP developed at a median of 4 (1-9) days after surgery. Empyema developed in 3 patients, and of the three, 2 had both POP and empyema. Patients with POP frequently required mechanical ventilation (40.2%), and in-hospital mortality was 22%. Of the 16 colonized patients, 4 (25%) had POP, whereas among non-colonized patients, POP occurred in 14 of 70 cases (20%) (Figure 2). For all variables analyzed separately, the p value was greater than 0.05 and the 95% confidence interval (95%CI) included the number 1, indicating that no variable significantly influenced POP incidence, according to the available sample. Still, some alternatives were used aiming to identify some underlying statistical relevance, such as stratifying age ranges, transforming age into a categorical variable or considering the minimum value of p as 0.1, so that the variable would be subsequently analyzed in a multivariate model. However, no statistically significant impact was identified for any variable (Tables 3). Multivariate analysis was not performed due to the negative results of the univariate analysis. Discussion The colonization of LAW in patients undergoing thoracic surgery is scarcely mentioned in the literature. It is known that patients with some lung diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have atypical pulmonary flora [11-18], but patients submitted to lung resection usually include a much wider range of diseases. The study of this profile in different institutions is important to better understand the predominant bacterial flora and whether there is or not impact on the risk of infectious complications and whether antibiotic prophylaxis needs to be reviewed. Some studies have shown that LAW colonization increases the risk of POP (2,8,9). Other studies even suggest that, as it influences the risk of POP, LAW colonization would require a change in antibiotic prophylaxis in thoracic surgery (3,7). However, it is necessary to evaluate the collection method and risk of contamination of the collected samples. Our study described a heterogeneous flora, with many non-pathogenic microorganisms, but with an incidence (18.6%) that is comparable to that found in other studies. Yamada et al., in their study with 626 patients and Schussler et al., who assessed 478 patients in 2008, found 12.8% and 14.7% of LAW colonization, respectively (3,8). Belda et al. and Ionas et al. reported 83% and 41% of LAW colonization, respectively [9,6]. However, to the best of our knowledge, our study is the first that used the culture collection method performed by the surgeon, while still under completely sterile conditions in all patients. Previously, Ionas et al. used this technique, but in combination with protected specimen brush (PSB) through bronchoscopy in 41 patients (6). On the other hand, all studies used bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) or PSB as collection method (2,3,6,8,9). Schussler et al. reported that they initially attempted to collect cultures from the resected specimens in the first 30 patients, bu t as culture results were negative, they gave up on the method, although it appears to be a more reliable result (2). It is also noteworthy that our study involved patients with different lung diseases and this fact may have influenced the incidence of bacteria in LAWs, unlike previous studies that were carried out in patients with the same disease, most with early-stage lung cancer. According to the literature, BAL is influenced by factors such as: the collected volume, when less than 100 mL, can increase contamination by mucus and airway cells; smokers and patients with COPD may have decreased volume of the recovered fluid. This method has sensitivity and specificity values ranging between 42-93% and 45-100%, respectively [19]. In addition to bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), the PSB method is a procedure with greater specificity, due to lower chance of sample contamination caused by the bronchoscope passage through regions such as the oral mucosa or contact with tracheal and bronchial secretions, compared to unprotected BAL [20]. On the other hand, the risk of sample contamination exists and operational costs are not feasible in most Latin American institutions. We understand that intraoperative collection eliminates the risk of contamination from other airway areas and the sterile conditions of the environment and operating team also warrants that the chance of c ontamination during material handling is also minimal. We found no association between bronchial colonization and POP, perhaps because there were few patients with pathogenic bacteria (10.4%). Yamada et al. also found no association between LAW colonization and POP in their study (8). Belda et al. described 35.8% of patients colonized with pathogenic bacteria. Schusller et al., in 2006, first reported an incidence of 22.8% of LAW colonization by pathogenic bacteria (9,2). These studies showed an association between LAW colonization and POP. However, once again, differently from our study, they collected culture samples through PSB and BAL, increasing the chance of contamination with the upper airways and thus, possibly increasing the number of patients with positive culture and pathogens. Consequently, our results might represent the actual bacterial flora of LAWs more accurately. Another interesting factor is that Schussler et al. found a correlation between the colonizing bacteria and the causative agent of POP in only 5 of 50 patients and this finding was not statistically significant. Ionas et al. and Yamada et al. also found the same result regarding this correlation between colonizing bacteria and bacterial agent identified in patients who developed POP (3,6,8). The incidence of POP was relatively high (20.9%), but compatible with literature data. Radu et al. described seventy-six cases (24.4%) of pulmonary resections that were complicated by postoperative pulmonary infections (7). Belda et al. described POP in 31% of the patients (9). Regarding mortality in patients with POP, the literature shows mixed results, with a mortality rate of up to 40% (2, 21). Possibly, the higher mortality is associated with the profile of operated patients. Belda et al. reported 13% of deaths in patients submitted to pulmonary resections only for early-stage primary lung cancer (9). Our study showed a mortality rate of 22% in individuals with POP. However, our sample included patients with metastatic cancer and severe inflammatory diseases. Our study has some limitations. Ours is a small sample and, therefore, we believe that other studied factors did not influence the risk of infection. Moreover, we did not isolate microorganisms during the postoperative period in patients who developed POP, to be compared with LAW cultures collected during surgery. The analysis of antibiotic prophylaxis was not performed, because LAW colonization did not appear as a risk factor for POP. In the last decade, culture-independent DNA-based techniques have demonstrated that much more complex microbial communities reside in the lower airways, where bacterial culture has failed to reliably demonstrate resident bacteria. (22). Unfortunately, these techniques are not yet available in our institution. We conclude that lower-airway colonization is found in patients undergoing lung resection in our institution. This finding, as well as the other analyzed factors, did not result in increased POP risk in this sample. The intraoperative collection method employed in this study should be further evaluated in larger studies to define the risk of POP associated with LAW colonization. Table 1 – Preoperative clinical status and surgical procedures performed Table 2 – Colonization profile of lower airways Table 3 – Univariate analysis to identify possible risk factors for postoperative pneumonia. Figure 1. Number of preoperative in-hospital length of stay. Figure 2. Incidence of postoperative pneumonia (POP).

Heineken Essay -- essays research papers fc

Global distribution channels vary in general because everyone is trying to discover a way to make money without getting the flow of current distribution channels. Each channel is a very important chapter in the process of the global channel in order for the world to obtain some type of harmony within the distributing between the channels. The article discusses brand management on a global scale. Marketing across cultures can be done with Theodore Levitt's idea for exploiting the "economics of simplicity" with standardized products, packaging, and communication. Global brands become symbols of cultural ideals; therefore, transnational companies have to offer a high-value product that deliver the cultural myths consumers are looking for. The Global Brands Study found consumers associate global brands with three characteristics (quality signal, global myth, and social responsibility), which are used to evaluate them when making purchase decisions. Global consumers are segmented into four categories: global citizens, global dreamers, anti-globals, and global agnostics. More than two decades ago, Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt provocatively declared in a 1983 HBR article, "The Globalization of Markets," that a global market for uniform products and services had emerged. He argued that corporations should exploit the "economics of simplicity" and grow by selling standardized products all over the worl...

Arthur Miller’s Treatment of Women Essay

Throughout â€Å"Death of a Salesman†, Arthur Miller presents a very bleak view of women. From the male opinion, to their place in the play, women were subjugated. Some may think this was just a role set out by Arthur Miller for this play. I find this difficult to believe given the ubiquity, leaving me to think that Mr. Miller is an unrelenting misogynist. This is not only demonstrated by the superficial factors such as, dialogue, events, but also the subtle nuances. Factors like setting and relationships. Through this essay I will make clear Arthur Millers true opinion on women evident via events, characters, setting, relationships and dialogue; the much concealed misogyny of Arthur Miller, and Death of a Salesman. The most apparent demonstration of Arthur Millers misogyny was through the dialogue. One of numerous occasions the Loman men objectified women was while Happy and Biff are having a boorish conversation about a past girl they had both slept with, that was my first time I think. Boy, there was a pig! (Death of a Salesman, page 21) Pigs are known as foul and dirty ubiquitously throughout a variety of different cultures and religions. I vehemently cannot see a greater disrespect than associating this animal with a human being. I dont think there could be more a dehumanizing comment. Throughout the novel the Loman men, especially Happy referred to women as creatures. This once again, is utterly disrespectful; it classifies women as subhuman. A common misconception about poor-standing characters in novels is that they dont necessarily represent the authors beliefs. This is something that I couldnt agree with more, but in order for this to happen, you have to demonstrate an opposite; a moral high ground, which Arthur Miller doesnt do whatsoever. Not once does a character stand in opposition nor do they present an alternative to the Loman misogyny. Events throughout the novel stand in no conflict to the soon to be obvious thesis, that Mr. Miller is a misogynist. I think there is no better example of his misogynic behavior than that of the primary character; Willy cheating on his wife Linda with a more appealing woman. But why might Willy seek another woman when he had a loyal wife at home? The only apparent reason is because his respect for women seems to be absolutely foreign. Even when his son Biff catches his father in the act, there is no sorrow for Linda. The  only distress felt is Biff disappointment in his father for having no willpower. One might think that those tears were for Linda, but this is clearly not true. If Biff really cared so deeply for his mother he would have told her about what had happened, something he did not do. This wasnt the only event that demonstrates Millers women hating ways. Early on in the novel Willy states disappointment with Linda over something as simple as purchasing cheese. This clearl y exemplifies a belief that women are incapable of doing anything correctly. Arthur Miller, like everything women related, had a very sour view on relationships. For starters, Happy, Stanley and Biff viewed women as form of entertainment, a game for them to hunt. They saw no emotion, nothing human; all they saw was a trophy. I assume one might say that, that wasnt the role Linda played. Which is true, but I must ask in return, was she free from denigration? Linda was issued just as little respect, apparent or not. For example anytime the conversation involved Linda, she had little importance in it, or was purely ignored. The only time she could get a word in is when she was involved in a one on one conversation; otherwise she was virtually demoted to the status of a doormat. A key factor of Arthur Millers misogyny was established through the settling and the American culture. This play is thought to take place in a morally primitive state in history. This was a very hierarchical time, when blacks didnt have the vote and women were still viewed as less than human. To even expect Arthur Miller to jet set equality would be a ridiculous request. I dont think Arthur Miller was an above and beyond typical misogyny, more complied with the post great depression time. This doesnt make it right it just demonstrates a large precedent that Mr. Miller obviously followed. With this time came a belief to fulfill the American Dream. The three primary components on the American Dream were fame, wealth and women. This isnt to say that there isnt a more politically correct way to get women. At this time women were viewed and thought as something to be swept away. Even to this day there is a certain expectation of male dominances that men comply with and women expect. For e xample, the stigma of a girl asking out a boy on a date. If it wasnt for our past cultures standards Arthur Miller wouldnt  have complied with this misogyny, and nor would the rest of society. Throughout this essay I express a non-obvious thesis that Arthur Miller was a misogynist as demonstrated in his famous play, Death of a Salesman. This sentiment was expressed in virtually every facet of this play; from the palpable dialogue, to the subtle nuances of Willys misogynistic relationship with Linda. The stink of Mr. Millers misogyny is ever prevalent but why? As previously mentioned, I speculate the reason stems from cultures treatment of the women; but if one complies with culture isnt one justified or thought of as righteous? This is a catch twenty-two, righteousness is essentially made up of societal majority, something that Arthur Miller complied with. Unfortunately standards have changed and with that so did what was right. Mr. Miller is by means no demon, just another person demonized by an evolved society.

The Major Religions of Ancient India

Risk Areas Of The Royal Bank Of Canada Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1299 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is the largest bank in Canada in terms of the assets and market capitalization. It provides diversified financial services including Canadian and international banking for personal users and commercial users, wealth management services, insurance, corporate and investment banking, capital markets and transaction processing services. Risks are lack of certainty of outcome and they are measured by set of probabilities in order to estimate the loss. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Risk Areas Of The Royal Bank Of Canada Finance Essay" essay for you Create order A superior wealthy financial service company should be able to solve any expected risks and unexpected risks to minimize the loss for all shareholders. The main purpose of this report is to examine how a financial intermediary faces the potential risk management challenges. The purpose of this research paper is to identify three major risk areas that Royal Bank of Canada has identified in its annual report. We will target one of these risks and provide further information on the actions that the bank takes to manage that risk. The sources of information will be the banks website, annual report by the banks and the concept that we have learned from this course and other sources as well. Risk Management The management of Royal Bank discussed different type of risk management in its 2010 annual report. The analysis is provided to enable the existing or potential clients, shareholders to assess how RBC has managed the risks with proper rules and guidelines. Royal Bank has an unique system to manage the following risks: credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk, operational risk, strategic risk, regulatory and legal risk, reputation risk, insurance risk, environment risk and other risk factors. In this report, three major risk areas that we will be briefly discussed are credit risk, market risk and reputation risk. Credit risk will be analyzed in detailed. 1) Credit risk Credit risk is 2) Market risk Market risk is 3) Reputation risk Reputation is one of the successful factors in all businesses or organizations. A good reputation can build trust and confidence with the clients and the shareholders. Reputation risk is a possible risk that the organization or its representative Detailed Examination on Credit Risk Let us define credit risk in two ways. The first way is how Saunders defines it. The textbook defines credit risk as not getting paid in full, whereas RBC defines credit risk not getting paid at all. This term varies across organizations. RBC is exposed to credit risk in many ways since they offer a wide variety of services and products in Canada and around the world that rely on customers credit. In almost all of their products it is trust-based, and credit-based.  Some of these services and products include: asset-backed financing margin lending securities lending and project finance loans credit cards lines and letters of credit, residential and commercial mortgages. How the Bank Examine the Credit Risk The way RBC examines risk is by quantifying the credit risk, at both individual and portfolio levels, with an aim to minimize expected and unexpected losses. They use different tools to assess risk for wholesale and retail portfolios. The wholesale aspect consists of med to large size businesses, sovereign and bank exposures, while the retail portfolios consist of residential mortgages, lines of credit, credit cards, and small business loans. RBC makes an approach in two ways under the Basel II, Advanced Internal Rating Based and Standardized. The key parameters they use can be broken into 3 parts: Probability of Default (PD): measures the probability of default by a obligor within one-year of signing the contract for a loan. Exposure at default (EAD): the remaining amount owed to the bank at the time default. Loss given default (LGD): estimated percentage of the EAD that will not be recovered in the event of default. When it comes to rated exposures, mainly in the bank classes, RBC assigns the risk-weight based on OSFIs standardized mapping. When it comes to unrated exposures, mainly in the small business and retail classes, RBC will generally apply pre-determined risk weights brought on by OSFI along with the guidelines that theyve set, where they consider techniques to deal with exposure type, credit risk mitigation and counterparty. Wholesale credit Portfolio This system built to measure the credit risk in their wholesale lending activities. How this system works is each obligor is assigned a borrowers risk rating or BRR and every BRR is assigned PD. The BRR is essentially what differentiates one borrower from another in terms how likely they will have a hard time paying back their obligations if things do right in the economy. Retail credit Portfolio When it comes to the retail portfolios, credit scoring is way of assessing primary risk of an obligor in paying its debt. Credit scoring is achieved by acquiring new clien ts, or by managing existing clients to estimate future credit performance. During the acquisition scoring model, credit risk on a person is established based on past employment data, or other external credit bureaus to estimate future credit performance. So the best example would be a person just applying for a first time credit card. Usually students are in this category. Those who never had one usually begin with a low limit credit card until they develop a credit history. Behavioural scoring is a continuous monitoring process on a persons credit. The best example for this would be a person getting their very first credit card and been using it for some time. The bank that issued this persons card and took a risk by issuing this card, can now observe his or her performance and determine their credibility for future references. Every banks main purpose is to minimize default risk and to reduce the chances of giving somebody some loans or credit that they might not recover at all. After a person has been using credit cards for some time, it is easier to get approved the second time since they have established a credit history with another bank already. What determines a good credit is if the person has been paying their debt on time, making the minimum payments on time, whether they applied for a loan or not, thing of that nature. Applying for too many credit cards can also reduce someones credit rating and it takes a long time to recover from a bad credit. One important place that we never think of that dips out credit rating is at the dealerships. Even if you go in just to take a look at the car you want, the next thing is before you buy a car, the salesperson will ask for a drivers license to have your credit checked to see if youre eligible for a loan commitment to own the car. Sometime we get in the moment and dont think about it but does bring down your credit rating. One example of that is, I was interested in a Dodge so I kept going into diffe rent Dodge dealerships asking about that one car. Everywhere I went they asked to check my credit. At one point my credit went from Approved to Not Approved because I had my credit checked everywhere, sometimes in other provinces in case I wanted to have the car brought to BC. When I went to Ford dealership for another car, the finance manager printed out my credit history and asked me why I had so many Dodge listed. After I explained my situation, he advised me that was the reason my credit dropped but knew otherwise it would be more than enough to get a Ford, so I was approved! Credit Risk Mitigation Structuring of transaction: Includes the use of guarantees, security, seniority and covenants. The third-party guarantors that RBC deals with are primarily Sovereign-sponsored agencies. Collateral: RBC makes sure they receive some sort of collateral on larger loans, depending on the borrower, and what type of loan.