Star Newspaper Business Study

Star Newspaper Business Study COMPANY BACKGROUND Companys history The Star was first published regionally in George Town, Penang on the 9th of September, 1971. The Star went to become a national newspaper on Jan 3, 1976, when it set up an office in Kuala Lumpur. To adapt a growing staff and a new press incorporating the latest technology, it moved its headquarters from Kuala Lumpur to its present premises in Petaling Jaya in 1981. The Star created histor y on June 23, 1995 when it became the first Malaysian newspaper and the third in Asia to launch a World Wide Web edition. In addition to that, The Star also achieved a new milestone in its corporate history in the same year by being listed on the Main Board of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. In the year 2000, The Star relocated in stages to its very own 17 storey premises, Menara Star in Section 16, Petaling Jaya. In January 2002, The Stars new printing plant, Star Media Hub was officially opened by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB Dato Seri Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi in Shah Alam, Selangor. The Star also has a new office and printing plant, Star Northern Hub in Bayan Lepas, Penang. About The Star and Sunday Star The Star weekday paper is packaged as a 4-in-1 paper, comprising the Main Paper, StarBiz and StarTwo. The Main Paper covers the latest in regional, national and as well as international news while StarBiz offers a comprehensive coverage of local and international financial news such as market trends, financial reports and latest market updates. StarTwo features articles on lifestyle, entertainment, health, parenting, social issues and et cetera. Every Sunday, there is an additional section known as Sunday Star. For the Sunday Star, it covers current local and as well as worldwide news. Apart from that, Sunday Star also contains an educational section where careers, further education, exams tips and various comments are featured within. Board of Directors The current Executive Deputy Chairman of Star Publications (Malaysia) Berhad is Dato Clement Hii Chii Kok whereas the Group Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer is Datin Linda Ngiam Pick Ngoh. There are two Executive Director in the company which is Tan Sri Datuk Seri Kamal Mohamed Hashim and Mr. Ng Beng Lye. And the Group Editorial / Education Advisor is Dato Ng Poh Tip. Groups Financial Highlights The revenue of the company as at 31 December 2008 is RM 831,040,000. Profit before tax is RM201, 463,000 whereas the profit after tax is RM138, 701,000 which show that the tax expense is RM 62,762,000. Political and Legal Environment There is one law in Malaysia that protects media freedom that is Article 10 of the Constitution. It also notes that there are limits to this freedom, and that these limits are, generally, defined by the Government. The constitution provides freedom for speech of the press. However, some important legal limitations exist. According to the government, it forced restrictions on the media to protect national security, public order, and friendly relations with other countries. The law that provides legislation in the interest of security or public order may restrict freedom of speech. Example, Sedition Act prohibits public comment on issues sensitive such as racial and religious matters. Government used Sedition Act, Official Secrets Act, Printing Presses and Publications Act, criminal defamation laws, and other laws to limit and threaten political speech. As for Printing Presses and Publications Act, it requires local and foreign publications to apply annually to the government for a permit. This is to make publication of wicked news a punishable offense and authorized the minister of internal security to ban or restrict publications believed to threaten public order, morality, or national security. Besides, it also prohibits court challenges to delay or revocation of publication permits. According to the government, these conditions make sure that the media did not spread twisted news and were necessary to preserve harmony and promote peaceful in a multiracial country. Criminal defamation is punishable by a maximum of two years in jail, a fine, or both. This is along with the government power over annual license renewal and other policies inhibited independent or investigative journalism and resulted in widespread self-censorship. Government had banned some foreign newspapers and magazines and, occasionally, covered up foreign magazines or newspapers. Furthermore, you could point to the guarantees under the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) if you want to impress the crowd which covers broadcasting and Internet. The guarantees under this act are no monopoly or oligopoly control of the airwaves and nothing in the Act is to be regarded as censorship of the Internet. No monopoly or oligopoly control of the airwaves is that no group of companies should own enough of the radio and television stations to prevent listeners and viewers from having a choice of material. So far is all good but they have not seen it put into practice as yet. As for censorship of the Internet, it is a bit more of a problem. Although there is not any censorship or control of the Internet under this Act, doesnt mean there isnt any censorship of the Internet. Internet access was widely available and internet subscriptions totalled approximately 13.5 million at the end of 2006. However, criminal offence and preventive detention laws generated some self censorship from local Internet content sources. Examples are bloggers, Internet news providers and NGO campaigners. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) shut down 11 Web sites for breaking rules and regulations concerning the publication of information on the Internet. Neither the MCMC nor the government released the names of the 11 Web sites. The CMA requires certain Internet and other network service providers to obtain a license. Previously, the government stated that it did not intend to enforce controls on Internet use but that it would punish the misuse of information technology. The CMA permits punishment of the owner of a Web site or blog for allowing content of a racial, religious, or political nature that a court deems offensive. Besides that, almost all the newspaper companies are under a political control. This is where the politician uses the publications to spread their news to the public. The biggest press group was Media Prima which is owned by Malaysia Resources Corporation Berhad which has close ties with the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and government. Media Prima owns the leading English-language newspaper The New Straits Times, the second biggest Malaysia-language paper Berita Harian, Malay Mail, Harian Metro and the ShinMin Daily News. In addition, Media Prima owns four terrestrial TV channels. However, the acquirement of Nanyang from MCA two years ago which is 2005 has since setup its monopoly in Chinese media. Sin Chew Media Group was being owned by the timber tycoon, Tiong Hiew King. He already corners about 90% of the Chinese language newspaper market, with his control of Sin Chew ,which publishes Sin Chew Daily and Guang Ming Daily, and Nanyang Holdings, which has Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press. As for The Star, it was owned by MCA while MIC owned Malaysia Nanban. Economic environment 2009 will bound to be a very challenging year for Malaysia, although Malaysias economy is holding up pretty well this year. The first half of 2009 is expected to be a very tough period for Malaysia. The impact on Malaysia this year has somehow been cushioned but many are beginning to feel the economic downturn towards the year-end. Since the beginning of the global economic crisis, much has been said and published about its economic and financial impact, but relatively little has been said about the socio-economic impact. While it is not difficult to observe the direct and often immediate unpleasant social impact of the crisis, little is known about their indirect and long-term effect on the countrys human development and social capital potential which are increasingly acknowledged in developing economies as a critical factor for sustainable development. Economic pressures are becoming the primary forces determining the behaviour of Malaysian newspaper companies. It is increasingly clear that the responses of some newspaper managers are affecting journalistic quality, producing practices that reduce the social value of newspaper content and that redirect the atten ­tion of newspaper workforce from journalism to activities primarily related to the business interests of the press. This situation has promoted encouraged self-interested behaviour aimed at exploiting market potential, and there is a growing conflict between the role of newspapers as servants of readers and the exploitation of readers to seek additional com ­mercial gain. It should not be surprising that the public increasingly sees the press as just another business that is more concerned with its own economic interests than with the broader interests of those it purports to serve. This entry gives GDP growth on an annual basis adjusted for inflation and expressed as a percent. The graph above shows the overall performance of Malaysian in economy. We can see the economy started to drop from the middle for second quarter of 2008 till 2009. (Source: CIA World Fact book, September 17, 2009) The print media is already feeling the pinch of the economic downturn. Newspaper adex has fallen for four consecutive months from October to January 2009. In January, newspaper adex declined 4% year on year to RM258.6 million while total adex for the media industry as a whole (TV, radio and print) inched up 2% year to year. This means that newspaper companies suffered a bigger blow than other media channels. As an open economy, Malaysia was badly affected by the global financial crisis and economic downturn. The major decline in exports, in turn, affected domestic demand. Thus, economic growth contracted 6.2% in the first quarter of 2009. However, the decline narrowed to 3.9% in the second quarter, assisted by speedy and effective operation of stimulus packages as well as monetary easing. Economic performance is expected to improve in the second half of the year, supported by counter-cyclical measures and reinforced by stabilization in the global economic environment. As such, the economy is expected to turn around in the fourth quarter, though for the year it is estimated to contract 3%. The current environment exists as the Malaysian newspaper industry faces an uncertain future because of inactive markets, increasing competition from other media for audience attention, use by progressively smaller portions of the population and changes in advertiser media choices. It is a common view that the newspaper business is elastic because people read the papers every day, regardless of the economic climate. People want to know the latest happenings in good times and bad. It is expected to see a slowing down in adex in this year, 2009, with the absence of any major events, together with the weakening economic climate. The lower economic growth forecast has an effect on the newspaper industry including advertising. Last years growth was driven by worldly TV adex (up 20%), newspaper (8%), radio (21%) and point-of- sale (28%). Malaysia Advertising Expenditure Trends Year 1997 to 2008 Circulation Generally, there is a total newspaper circulation rise since 1998. The actual figure in appendix for 2008 should have rose higher though if the data from Nanyang, Malay Mail and Weekend Mail are included. Newsprint has not dead yet and will co-exist with online media. The circulation growth has been steadily all these years which contributed by the increase of the population and the knowledge of society. There are a few online news portals which without print circulation have been gaining huge popularity since last year. This creating a strong competition in online space compared to the print circulation. In English newsprint, The Star is still far ahead of everyone. As for The Sun, it considers that it offers free controlled circulation. Competition in Malay circulation is only reserved for the big three which similar to the online scenario shown in figure 2 at appendix. Harian Metro is gaining popularity in recent years. This had posed a challenged to Utusan Malaysias top position. Another famous trend in the Malay segment is newspaper sales on weekends are generally much higher than working days. Societal About three million Malaysians visited local online news portals daily in March this year, compared with 2.5 million in the same month last year, according to comScore Media Metrix (digital marketing research company). While the figures quoted in May edition of OnMedia, OmicomMediaGroups industry newsletter, were based on average daily readership for the online news sites over the past year from March 2008 to February 2009. In total, the average daily readership for local news portals for that period was about 2.8 million. Malaysiakini led online English news sites with 91,943 average daily visitors over the past year. In second place was The Star Online with 74,417 readers a day. Malaysia-Today.net registered 12,948 readers daily, putting it in third place. The New Straits Times Online came in fourth with an average of 16,871 readers a day. However, in fifth place was theedgedaily.com, the website of The Edge Malaysia, which averaged 3,844 readers daily over the past year. However, according to Google Analytics which monitors online site traffic, since its relaunch in March this year as theedgemalaysia.com, the site has averaged around 14,000 readers daily. For the Malay-language online portals, Utusan Malaysia Online led with an average daily readership of 70,641 over the past year. It was followed by Berita Harian Online which averaged 55,764 readers a day for the past year. myMetro (the website of Harian Metro) averaged 51,767 readers daily, placing it third. ChinaPress dotCom was the most popular of the Chinese-language online news portals with an average of 29,950 readers a day. It was closely followed by nanyang.com which averaged 27,168 a day, and Sinchew-i which received an average of 23,779 readers a day. Key points that emerged from the study, if price were not a factor and if their choice was restricted to paper, online, e-paper and mobile devices. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of respondents would pick traditional newspapers as their first choice for news consumption. While, twenty-nine percent (29%) would make online sources their first choice, with the remaining twenty percent (2%) opting for e-paper or mobile devices first. The gap between traditional newspapers and online was, however, significantly smaller for younger respondents. Both consumers and advertisers have demonstrated a willingness to pay more for high value, topic-specific publications than they would for newspapers providing general news only, wrote authors Marieke van der Donk and Marcel Fenez in the reports executive summary. Financial readers were willing to buy financial online content for 97% as much as they would pay for a traditional paper. Meanwhile, sports fanatics would pay as much as 77% as they would for a traditional paper, for an online edition that focused on sports. The study showed newspapers are still the major sources of news and information for consumers, with survey respondents listing almost equally television, the Internet, and newspapers (free and paid) as their main source of news and information. Moreover, all 4,900 respondents were willing to pay for the general print news content. This is not to say that newspapers should not make the move online, said the report. Over 60% of respondents were willing to pay for general online news. Furthermore, based on the reports findings, a key future trend is the willingness of younger readers to pay for online content. According to the report, newspapers have been able to earn readers trust and loyalty, thus giving them the opportunity to both lead and follow audiences as they migrate online and into the use of portable electronic media like mobile devices. It also noted that although the rapid adoption of the Internet and mobile technology have created a market for mobile devices, especially for those under 35, they are low on the list of preferences for accessing information because of the difficulty of reading content on these devices. Malaysians are not giving up newspapers for the Internet. This research based on the data sourced from Nielsen Media Index from 2006 to 2008. It shows that newspaper consumption levels held steady all through 2008 despite the rise in Internet consumption. Malaysian newspaper consumption holds steady despite Internet. Its written by Emily Tan, Tuesday, 01 September 2009 at 11:24.While the average time a Malaysian spends online has increased by 24% from three hours a day in 2006 to three hours and 46 minutes a day in 2008, the average time spent reading a newspaper has held steady at 49 minutes in the same time span. There is no sign that Malaysians are shifting from newspapers to the Internet, said the report published in PHDs August newsletter — PHD Pioneering. PHD is a media service agency under the Omnicom Media Group. The PHD study found that Malaysians over the age of 30 spend more time reading newspapers and its about 50 minutes daily, while the teenagers and young adults read for about half an hour on average per day. A few online news portals that without print circulation have been gaining a huge popularity since last year, creating a stiff competition in online space compared to the print circulation. As for English newsprint, The Star is still well ahead of everyone, considering The Sun offers free controlled circulation. Newspaper readership in Peninsular Malaysia for the fourth quarter of last year (4Q08) grew about two percentage (2%) points to 55% from 52.9% in the same period in 2007, possibly in tandem with population growth of those aged 15 and above. Bahasa dailies seemed to have gained the most from the slight increase in newspaper readership, growing from 26.8% to 29.3% in the fourth quarter. English dailies saw marginal growth of 0.3 percentage point while Chinese and Tamil dailies saw a drop of 0.2 and 0.4 percentage point correspondingly. This is written by Aznita Ahmad Pharmy, Thursday, 05 March 2009, at 17:44. Technology On the other hand, the media industry is challenged by the rapidly changing environment, birth of new digital technologies and advertising money diverting to new media platforms on the internet. The local media industry has yet to capitalize on the full potential of the internet which will remain the fastest and the next powerful media platform, globally. Largely driving this change is technological development but the industry is also being affected by the impact of globalization of media ownership, the phenomenal growth of the internet, and other ambient media such as outdoor, point of sale, television, bus and taxi sites. The process of creating media strategies has become more complex and dynamic with the introduction of very highly developed software designed to optimize media selection against an unending range of criteria. There is a growing movement away from the use of simple age sex demographics for most media assumptions and an increasing appreciation of the need for a more holistic understanding of current and potential customers, including characteristics such as media usage, buyer behaviour, attitudes, lifestyles and interests. According to Nielsen Media Index, while mainstream media continues to control the Malaysian media scene, the internet is fast catching up. There was a double growth in internet penetration which reaching up to two out of ten people compared to five years ago. The executive director for Nielsen Media Research Malaysia, Andrea Douglas said that internet will become a more important part of the media mix with its continuous growth in the market. She added that Malaysians are decided to go on online news for faster and constant updates. This can be seen by the 35% growth in online newspaper readership over a year, reaching one million readers. Those who only read news online exclusive online newspaper readers, it grew from 55,000 to 70,000 in 2008. The index signified a 21% increase in internet users with almost four out of ten users spending one to two hours on the internet every day. Increasing internet penetration goes hand-in-hand with increased Internet usage. However, news seekers have not abandoned the traditional medium as nine in 10 readers still obtain their news through a hard copy. Apart from more common features such as email, surfing and information gathering, the popular activities for citizen are online TV/music/games (47%), followed by message/chat/blogging (45%) and reading newspaper/magazines (35%). Within the Top 10 categories, nine categories advertised online but the spending only between less than 1% and 3% of the total budget online. Newspaper industry players have to constantly evolve themselves to stay ahead by improving technology and addressing readers preferences. The second Finance Minister, Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop urged the industry to play actively its role by involving themselves in developing the digital medium instead of ignoring it. He said it in his keynote address at the Malaysian Newspaper Publishers Association forum. Nor Mohamed said that with the online global reach, publish news about the countrys development became faster and easier. He added that to promote Malaysia as a developing and stable nation to potential foreign investors, information reported must be accurate. This image would be able to attract more foreign investments and visitors in Malaysia. As for Group M chief executive officer, Henry Tan said that as technology drove change, consumers, media, media agencies and clients were changing as well. New generation was created by new technology while new media structure and ownership will strengthen competition. The role of media agencies has expanded to more than just planning and buying media spots. Agencies also have to recognize changes in clients and deal with each one differently. Dow Jones Asia-Pacific sales director, Mark Hollands said change was not uncommon in the print media which comprised it to be better and more efficient. Potential new revenue stream and the branding improvement from a strong online presence in the combination of global trend, these have seen that local traditional news organizations begin to put more resources on the online platform. Besides, they also hired people who recognize the benefits of Web 2.0 applications such as social networking site Facebook, and Twitter, the so-called SMS of the Internet. The growing popularity of online news sites where readers can read for free is one reason decision-makers at traditional news organizations find it very hard to raise cover prices for their printing product. A drop in circulation numbers directly impacts the advertising rate which a publication commands. According to the On Media newsletter, the circulation numbers from Nielsen Media Research signified online news portals have not affected print newspaper that much though online readership has increased rapidly over the past year. At present, online news sites still do not enjoy the level of loyalty and commitment shown by readers to newsprint. Online readership tends to change based on economic, political and social events, said the newsletter. Based on Nielsen Media Research and Com Score, the newsletter concluded that readers spend less time reading online news than print. About three million Malaysians visited local online news portals daily in March this year, compared with 2.5 million in the same month last year according to ComScore Media Metrix, a digital marketing research company. The average daily readership for local news portals for that period was about 2.8 million. Malaysiankini led online English news sites average daily visitors over the past year. As for The Star Online was placing second. Utusan Malaysia Online led Malay-language online followed by Berita Harian Online. As for the Chinese-language online news portals, ChinaPress dotcom was the most popular. There are more on societal changes. Managing director of Omnicom Media Group, Andreas Vogiatzakis said that newsprint have little to fear from online news portals. He said that newspapers must learn to pull on their online portals to add value and enhance their offerings to the consumer. The industry has seen a decline in newspaper adex over the past three years, from 58% in 2006 to 54% 2008 said the Nielsen Co Malaysia executive director Andrea Douglas. She said that the reasons for these changes are difficult to said but some categories have changed their spending patterns. There has been a decline in residential ad spending due to the economic downturn and this category is almost fully print advertising. The web has introduced new advertising potential and new media that could be eroding the traditional print share. According to Nielsen Media Research, newspaper in Malaysia has a mainly younger readership, with 65 per cent below 40 and 35 per cent of its readers are above 40 years. Percentage of newspaper readership between 20-29 age is the highest while the age between 50-54 is the lowest percentage of newspaper readership. According to Nielsen Media Research, newspaper in Malaysia has a mainly younger readership, with 62 per cent below 40 and 38 per cent of its readers are above 40 years. Percentage of newspaper readership between 20-29 age is the highest while the age between 50-54 is the lowest percentage of newspaper readership. The readership of age above 55 years old in 2006 increases 3.5% compared with the readership of age 55 years old in 2005. The old generation between the age of 55 and above are still enthusiastic supporters of newspapers while the younger generation appear to be much in tune with computers and the internet. The newspapers are not only challenged by online websites but also the electronic media having regular updates in the news bulletin. Many youngsters enjoyed reading serious news on the internet rather than from the newspapers. Hence, newspaper publisher should focus on public from the age of 55 and above. According to a statistic from Department of Statistics, Malaysia, the population of Malaysia is increasing. The population of age 15 and below is decreasing every year. The decreasing rate of year 2002 to 2004 is 0.3% whereas the decreasing rate of year 2005 to 2008 is 0.2%. The population of age 64 and above is increasing every year by 0.1 % except for the year 2005 and 2006 which remain same at 4.3%. The same pattern of readership frequency could also be observed among the respondents with different educational backgrounds. According to The Public Awareness of Science and Technology Malaysia 2000, the frequency of newspaper readership continued to be the highest among those with tertiary education where 60.0% of them read the newspaper daily. This was followed by those with secondary education (44.1%) with the lowest frequency (28.1%) among those with primary or lower education. In terms of locality, The Public Awareness of Science and Technology Malaysia 2000 also revealed that 49.3% of the urban respondents read the newspaper daily compared to those in rural areas (39.8%). On the frequency of readership, the opposite situation could also be observed in the other categories (a few times a week, once a week, or seldom). For example, about one-third (32.1%) of the rural respondents and similarly about 34.4% of the urban respondents read newspapers only a few times a week. Identify the rivalry currently exists in the industry in which the company is operating. Are there many competitor or just a few competitor or no competitor? There are many competitors around Star Publication. For instance, Berita Harian, Guang Ming Daily, Sin Chew Jit Poh, The Sun Daily, Utusan Malaysia, and also New Straits Times. The largest Star Publication newspaper competitor is the New straits Times. The sell recommendation of analysts on Star Publications (M) Bhd are the countrys largest and most profitable print media group and as well as other media stocks, such as Media Chinese International Ltd and The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd, shows the current negativity on the industrys earnings prospects in the coming quarters, if not years. The Nielsen Media Report shows that Stars gross adex dived 20.6% y-o-y in January. Citi Investment Researchs analyst Alyson Shin has noticed that the page count for classified advertisements, which make up 25% of Stars advertising revenue, has fallen 33% to 40 pages from 60 pages in better times. Alyson Shin mention that Star has raised its advertising rates by an average 4% for both classified and display advertisements for the heavier days which is Wednesday to Saturdays. However, this is unlikely to be sufficient to offset the drop in adex in FY (Financial Year) 2009. Factoring in the 4% ad rate hike, we still forecast adex to contract 12% in FY2009, Alyson Shin comments in a February research report. Over the past two decades, Star has grown by shooting up and bounds in terms of earnings as well as manpower, after its English daily, The Star, overtook its main rival New Straits Times. The groups fixed operating costs have blown up. Its total operating costs that inclusive of printing and the newsprint have been above RM600 million in the past three years. This ascend to RM651.2 million in FY (financial year) 2008 versus revenue of RM831 million and net profit of RM138.9 million. The high fixed cost structure is a blessing for the group when advertisers are fighting for space in the newspaper because of the profit margin is getting bigger as the advertisement relative amount rises. Star has been the case this for over the past 10 years. It is the countrys most profitable newspaper with a handsome pre-tax profit margin of 24.2%, compared with its rival NST (New Strait Times) which manages only 9.5%. NSTP lost much of its thump over the past 25 years, especially on two separate occasions. During Operasi Lalang in October 1987, Star Publications (M) Bhds licence was revoked under a plan to crack down on the opposition leaders and social activists. After Star got back its licence, its readership and circulation surged. According to Nielsen Media Research, as at end-2008, NSTPs flagship newspaper New Straits Times had a readership of 308,000 while New Sunday Times readership stood at 263,000. As at end-June last year, New Straits Times circulation, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, stood at 136,530 while that of New Sunday Times was 156,910. These figures cannot rival that of its main competitor, Star Publications, which had a readership of more than one million for both its daily and Sunday paper. Stars circulation was over 300,000 daily. Are the products/ services offered by company very much different from its competitors in terms of price/feature/others. KUNTUM An educational monthly in Bahasa Malaysia for children ages 6 to 12. In keeping with its Learning is Fun motto, the Kuntum Club organises many fun activities and ho Star Newspaper Business Study Star Newspaper Business Study COMPANY BACKGROUND Companys history The Star was first published regionally in George Town, Penang on the 9th of September, 1971. The Star went to become a national newspaper on Jan 3, 1976, when it set up an office in Kuala Lumpur. To adapt a growing staff and a new press incorporating the latest technology, it moved its headquarters from Kuala Lumpur to its present premises in Petaling Jaya in 1981. The Star created histor y on June 23, 1995 when it became the first Malaysian newspaper and the third in Asia to launch a World Wide Web edition. In addition to that, The Star also achieved a new milestone in its corporate history in the same year by being listed on the Main Board of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. In the year 2000, The Star relocated in stages to its very own 17 storey premises, Menara Star in Section 16, Petaling Jaya. In January 2002, The Stars new printing plant, Star Media Hub was officially opened by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB Dato Seri Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi in Shah Alam, Selangor. The Star also has a new office and printing plant, Star Northern Hub in Bayan Lepas, Penang. About The Star and Sunday Star The Star weekday paper is packaged as a 4-in-1 paper, comprising the Main Paper, StarBiz and StarTwo. The Main Paper covers the latest in regional, national and as well as international news while StarBiz offers a comprehensive coverage of local and international financial news such as market trends, financial reports and latest market updates. StarTwo features articles on lifestyle, entertainment, health, parenting, social issues and et cetera. Every Sunday, there is an additional section known as Sunday Star. For the Sunday Star, it covers current local and as well as worldwide news. Apart from that, Sunday Star also contains an educational section where careers, further education, exams tips and various comments are featured within. Board of Directors The current Executive Deputy Chairman of Star Publications (Malaysia) Berhad is Dato Clement Hii Chii Kok whereas the Group Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer is Datin Linda Ngiam Pick Ngoh. There are two Executive Director in the company which is Tan Sri Datuk Seri Kamal Mohamed Hashim and Mr. Ng Beng Lye. And the Group Editorial / Education Advisor is Dato Ng Poh Tip. Groups Financial Highlights The revenue of the company as at 31 December 2008 is RM 831,040,000. Profit before tax is RM201, 463,000 whereas the profit after tax is RM138, 701,000 which show that the tax expense is RM 62,762,000. Political and Legal Environment There is one law in Malaysia that protects media freedom that is Article 10 of the Constitution. It also notes that there are limits to this freedom, and that these limits are, generally, defined by the Government. The constitution provides freedom for speech of the press. However, some important legal limitations exist. According to the government, it forced restrictions on the media to protect national security, public order, and friendly relations with other countries. The law that provides legislation in the interest of security or public order may restrict freedom of speech. Example, Sedition Act prohibits public comment on issues sensitive such as racial and religious matters. Government used Sedition Act, Official Secrets Act, Printing Presses and Publications Act, criminal defamation laws, and other laws to limit and threaten political speech. As for Printing Presses and Publications Act, it requires local and foreign publications to apply annually to the government for a permit. This is to make publication of wicked news a punishable offense and authorized the minister of internal security to ban or restrict publications believed to threaten public order, morality, or national security. Besides, it also prohibits court challenges to delay or revocation of publication permits. According to the government, these conditions make sure that the media did not spread twisted news and were necessary to preserve harmony and promote peaceful in a multiracial country. Criminal defamation is punishable by a maximum of two years in jail, a fine, or both. This is along with the government power over annual license renewal and other policies inhibited independent or investigative journalism and resulted in widespread self-censorship. Government had banned some foreign newspapers and magazines and, occasionally, covered up foreign magazines or newspapers. Furthermore, you could point to the guarantees under the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) if you want to impress the crowd which covers broadcasting and Internet. The guarantees under this act are no monopoly or oligopoly control of the airwaves and nothing in the Act is to be regarded as censorship of the Internet. No monopoly or oligopoly control of the airwaves is that no group of companies should own enough of the radio and television stations to prevent listeners and viewers from having a choice of material. So far is all good but they have not seen it put into practice as yet. As for censorship of the Internet, it is a bit more of a problem. Although there is not any censorship or control of the Internet under this Act, doesnt mean there isnt any censorship of the Internet. Internet access was widely available and internet subscriptions totalled approximately 13.5 million at the end of 2006. However, criminal offence and preventive detention laws generated some self censorship from local Internet content sources. Examples are bloggers, Internet news providers and NGO campaigners. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) shut down 11 Web sites for breaking rules and regulations concerning the publication of information on the Internet. Neither the MCMC nor the government released the names of the 11 Web sites. The CMA requires certain Internet and other network service providers to obtain a license. Previously, the government stated that it did not intend to enforce controls on Internet use but that it would punish the misuse of information technology. The CMA permits punishment of the owner of a Web site or blog for allowing content of a racial, religious, or political nature that a court deems offensive. Besides that, almost all the newspaper companies are under a political control. This is where the politician uses the publications to spread their news to the public. The biggest press group was Media Prima which is owned by Malaysia Resources Corporation Berhad which has close ties with the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and government. Media Prima owns the leading English-language newspaper The New Straits Times, the second biggest Malaysia-language paper Berita Harian, Malay Mail, Harian Metro and the ShinMin Daily News. In addition, Media Prima owns four terrestrial TV channels. However, the acquirement of Nanyang from MCA two years ago which is 2005 has since setup its monopoly in Chinese media. Sin Chew Media Group was being owned by the timber tycoon, Tiong Hiew King. He already corners about 90% of the Chinese language newspaper market, with his control of Sin Chew ,which publishes Sin Chew Daily and Guang Ming Daily, and Nanyang Holdings, which has Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press. As for The Star, it was owned by MCA while MIC owned Malaysia Nanban. Economic environment 2009 will bound to be a very challenging year for Malaysia, although Malaysias economy is holding up pretty well this year. The first half of 2009 is expected to be a very tough period for Malaysia. The impact on Malaysia this year has somehow been cushioned but many are beginning to feel the economic downturn towards the year-end. Since the beginning of the global economic crisis, much has been said and published about its economic and financial impact, but relatively little has been said about the socio-economic impact. While it is not difficult to observe the direct and often immediate unpleasant social impact of the crisis, little is known about their indirect and long-term effect on the countrys human development and social capital potential which are increasingly acknowledged in developing economies as a critical factor for sustainable development. Economic pressures are becoming the primary forces determining the behaviour of Malaysian newspaper companies. It is increasingly clear that the responses of some newspaper managers are affecting journalistic quality, producing practices that reduce the social value of newspaper content and that redirect the atten ­tion of newspaper workforce from journalism to activities primarily related to the business interests of the press. This situation has promoted encouraged self-interested behaviour aimed at exploiting market potential, and there is a growing conflict between the role of newspapers as servants of readers and the exploitation of readers to seek additional com ­mercial gain. It should not be surprising that the public increasingly sees the press as just another business that is more concerned with its own economic interests than with the broader interests of those it purports to serve. This entry gives GDP growth on an annual basis adjusted for inflation and expressed as a percent. The graph above shows the overall performance of Malaysian in economy. We can see the economy started to drop from the middle for second quarter of 2008 till 2009. (Source: CIA World Fact book, September 17, 2009) The print media is already feeling the pinch of the economic downturn. Newspaper adex has fallen for four consecutive months from October to January 2009. In January, newspaper adex declined 4% year on year to RM258.6 million while total adex for the media industry as a whole (TV, radio and print) inched up 2% year to year. This means that newspaper companies suffered a bigger blow than other media channels. As an open economy, Malaysia was badly affected by the global financial crisis and economic downturn. The major decline in exports, in turn, affected domestic demand. Thus, economic growth contracted 6.2% in the first quarter of 2009. However, the decline narrowed to 3.9% in the second quarter, assisted by speedy and effective operation of stimulus packages as well as monetary easing. Economic performance is expected to improve in the second half of the year, supported by counter-cyclical measures and reinforced by stabilization in the global economic environment. As such, the economy is expected to turn around in the fourth quarter, though for the year it is estimated to contract 3%. The current environment exists as the Malaysian newspaper industry faces an uncertain future because of inactive markets, increasing competition from other media for audience attention, use by progressively smaller portions of the population and changes in advertiser media choices. It is a common view that the newspaper business is elastic because people read the papers every day, regardless of the economic climate. People want to know the latest happenings in good times and bad. It is expected to see a slowing down in adex in this year, 2009, with the absence of any major events, together with the weakening economic climate. The lower economic growth forecast has an effect on the newspaper industry including advertising. Last years growth was driven by worldly TV adex (up 20%), newspaper (8%), radio (21%) and point-of- sale (28%). Malaysia Advertising Expenditure Trends Year 1997 to 2008 Circulation Generally, there is a total newspaper circulation rise since 1998. The actual figure in appendix for 2008 should have rose higher though if the data from Nanyang, Malay Mail and Weekend Mail are included. Newsprint has not dead yet and will co-exist with online media. The circulation growth has been steadily all these years which contributed by the increase of the population and the knowledge of society. There are a few online news portals which without print circulation have been gaining huge popularity since last year. This creating a strong competition in online space compared to the print circulation. In English newsprint, The Star is still far ahead of everyone. As for The Sun, it considers that it offers free controlled circulation. Competition in Malay circulation is only reserved for the big three which similar to the online scenario shown in figure 2 at appendix. Harian Metro is gaining popularity in recent years. This had posed a challenged to Utusan Malaysias top position. Another famous trend in the Malay segment is newspaper sales on weekends are generally much higher than working days. Societal About three million Malaysians visited local online news portals daily in March this year, compared with 2.5 million in the same month last year, according to comScore Media Metrix (digital marketing research company). While the figures quoted in May edition of OnMedia, OmicomMediaGroups industry newsletter, were based on average daily readership for the online news sites over the past year from March 2008 to February 2009. In total, the average daily readership for local news portals for that period was about 2.8 million. Malaysiakini led online English news sites with 91,943 average daily visitors over the past year. In second place was The Star Online with 74,417 readers a day. Malaysia-Today.net registered 12,948 readers daily, putting it in third place. The New Straits Times Online came in fourth with an average of 16,871 readers a day. However, in fifth place was theedgedaily.com, the website of The Edge Malaysia, which averaged 3,844 readers daily over the past year. However, according to Google Analytics which monitors online site traffic, since its relaunch in March this year as theedgemalaysia.com, the site has averaged around 14,000 readers daily. For the Malay-language online portals, Utusan Malaysia Online led with an average daily readership of 70,641 over the past year. It was followed by Berita Harian Online which averaged 55,764 readers a day for the past year. myMetro (the website of Harian Metro) averaged 51,767 readers daily, placing it third. ChinaPress dotCom was the most popular of the Chinese-language online news portals with an average of 29,950 readers a day. It was closely followed by nanyang.com which averaged 27,168 a day, and Sinchew-i which received an average of 23,779 readers a day. Key points that emerged from the study, if price were not a factor and if their choice was restricted to paper, online, e-paper and mobile devices. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of respondents would pick traditional newspapers as their first choice for news consumption. While, twenty-nine percent (29%) would make online sources their first choice, with the remaining twenty percent (2%) opting for e-paper or mobile devices first. The gap between traditional newspapers and online was, however, significantly smaller for younger respondents. Both consumers and advertisers have demonstrated a willingness to pay more for high value, topic-specific publications than they would for newspapers providing general news only, wrote authors Marieke van der Donk and Marcel Fenez in the reports executive summary. Financial readers were willing to buy financial online content for 97% as much as they would pay for a traditional paper. Meanwhile, sports fanatics would pay as much as 77% as they would for a traditional paper, for an online edition that focused on sports. The study showed newspapers are still the major sources of news and information for consumers, with survey respondents listing almost equally television, the Internet, and newspapers (free and paid) as their main source of news and information. Moreover, all 4,900 respondents were willing to pay for the general print news content. This is not to say that newspapers should not make the move online, said the report. Over 60% of respondents were willing to pay for general online news. Furthermore, based on the reports findings, a key future trend is the willingness of younger readers to pay for online content. According to the report, newspapers have been able to earn readers trust and loyalty, thus giving them the opportunity to both lead and follow audiences as they migrate online and into the use of portable electronic media like mobile devices. It also noted that although the rapid adoption of the Internet and mobile technology have created a market for mobile devices, especially for those under 35, they are low on the list of preferences for accessing information because of the difficulty of reading content on these devices. Malaysians are not giving up newspapers for the Internet. This research based on the data sourced from Nielsen Media Index from 2006 to 2008. It shows that newspaper consumption levels held steady all through 2008 despite the rise in Internet consumption. Malaysian newspaper consumption holds steady despite Internet. Its written by Emily Tan, Tuesday, 01 September 2009 at 11:24.While the average time a Malaysian spends online has increased by 24% from three hours a day in 2006 to three hours and 46 minutes a day in 2008, the average time spent reading a newspaper has held steady at 49 minutes in the same time span. There is no sign that Malaysians are shifting from newspapers to the Internet, said the report published in PHDs August newsletter — PHD Pioneering. PHD is a media service agency under the Omnicom Media Group. The PHD study found that Malaysians over the age of 30 spend more time reading newspapers and its about 50 minutes daily, while the teenagers and young adults read for about half an hour on average per day. A few online news portals that without print circulation have been gaining a huge popularity since last year, creating a stiff competition in online space compared to the print circulation. As for English newsprint, The Star is still well ahead of everyone, considering The Sun offers free controlled circulation. Newspaper readership in Peninsular Malaysia for the fourth quarter of last year (4Q08) grew about two percentage (2%) points to 55% from 52.9% in the same period in 2007, possibly in tandem with population growth of those aged 15 and above. Bahasa dailies seemed to have gained the most from the slight increase in newspaper readership, growing from 26.8% to 29.3% in the fourth quarter. English dailies saw marginal growth of 0.3 percentage point while Chinese and Tamil dailies saw a drop of 0.2 and 0.4 percentage point correspondingly. This is written by Aznita Ahmad Pharmy, Thursday, 05 March 2009, at 17:44. Technology On the other hand, the media industry is challenged by the rapidly changing environment, birth of new digital technologies and advertising money diverting to new media platforms on the internet. The local media industry has yet to capitalize on the full potential of the internet which will remain the fastest and the next powerful media platform, globally. Largely driving this change is technological development but the industry is also being affected by the impact of globalization of media ownership, the phenomenal growth of the internet, and other ambient media such as outdoor, point of sale, television, bus and taxi sites. The process of creating media strategies has become more complex and dynamic with the introduction of very highly developed software designed to optimize media selection against an unending range of criteria. There is a growing movement away from the use of simple age sex demographics for most media assumptions and an increasing appreciation of the need for a more holistic understanding of current and potential customers, including characteristics such as media usage, buyer behaviour, attitudes, lifestyles and interests. According to Nielsen Media Index, while mainstream media continues to control the Malaysian media scene, the internet is fast catching up. There was a double growth in internet penetration which reaching up to two out of ten people compared to five years ago. The executive director for Nielsen Media Research Malaysia, Andrea Douglas said that internet will become a more important part of the media mix with its continuous growth in the market. She added that Malaysians are decided to go on online news for faster and constant updates. This can be seen by the 35% growth in online newspaper readership over a year, reaching one million readers. Those who only read news online exclusive online newspaper readers, it grew from 55,000 to 70,000 in 2008. The index signified a 21% increase in internet users with almost four out of ten users spending one to two hours on the internet every day. Increasing internet penetration goes hand-in-hand with increased Internet usage. However, news seekers have not abandoned the traditional medium as nine in 10 readers still obtain their news through a hard copy. Apart from more common features such as email, surfing and information gathering, the popular activities for citizen are online TV/music/games (47%), followed by message/chat/blogging (45%) and reading newspaper/magazines (35%). Within the Top 10 categories, nine categories advertised online but the spending only between less than 1% and 3% of the total budget online. Newspaper industry players have to constantly evolve themselves to stay ahead by improving technology and addressing readers preferences. The second Finance Minister, Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop urged the industry to play actively its role by involving themselves in developing the digital medium instead of ignoring it. He said it in his keynote address at the Malaysian Newspaper Publishers Association forum. Nor Mohamed said that with the online global reach, publish news about the countrys development became faster and easier. He added that to promote Malaysia as a developing and stable nation to potential foreign investors, information reported must be accurate. This image would be able to attract more foreign investments and visitors in Malaysia. As for Group M chief executive officer, Henry Tan said that as technology drove change, consumers, media, media agencies and clients were changing as well. New generation was created by new technology while new media structure and ownership will strengthen competition. The role of media agencies has expanded to more than just planning and buying media spots. Agencies also have to recognize changes in clients and deal with each one differently. Dow Jones Asia-Pacific sales director, Mark Hollands said change was not uncommon in the print media which comprised it to be better and more efficient. Potential new revenue stream and the branding improvement from a strong online presence in the combination of global trend, these have seen that local traditional news organizations begin to put more resources on the online platform. Besides, they also hired people who recognize the benefits of Web 2.0 applications such as social networking site Facebook, and Twitter, the so-called SMS of the Internet. The growing popularity of online news sites where readers can read for free is one reason decision-makers at traditional news organizations find it very hard to raise cover prices for their printing product. A drop in circulation numbers directly impacts the advertising rate which a publication commands. According to the On Media newsletter, the circulation numbers from Nielsen Media Research signified online news portals have not affected print newspaper that much though online readership has increased rapidly over the past year. At present, online news sites still do not enjoy the level of loyalty and commitment shown by readers to newsprint. Online readership tends to change based on economic, political and social events, said the newsletter. Based on Nielsen Media Research and Com Score, the newsletter concluded that readers spend less time reading online news than print. About three million Malaysians visited local online news portals daily in March this year, compared with 2.5 million in the same month last year according to ComScore Media Metrix, a digital marketing research company. The average daily readership for local news portals for that period was about 2.8 million. Malaysiankini led online English news sites average daily visitors over the past year. As for The Star Online was placing second. Utusan Malaysia Online led Malay-language online followed by Berita Harian Online. As for the Chinese-language online news portals, ChinaPress dotcom was the most popular. There are more on societal changes. Managing director of Omnicom Media Group, Andreas Vogiatzakis said that newsprint have little to fear from online news portals. He said that newspapers must learn to pull on their online portals to add value and enhance their offerings to the consumer. The industry has seen a decline in newspaper adex over the past three years, from 58% in 2006 to 54% 2008 said the Nielsen Co Malaysia executive director Andrea Douglas. She said that the reasons for these changes are difficult to said but some categories have changed their spending patterns. There has been a decline in residential ad spending due to the economic downturn and this category is almost fully print advertising. The web has introduced new advertising potential and new media that could be eroding the traditional print share. According to Nielsen Media Research, newspaper in Malaysia has a mainly younger readership, with 65 per cent below 40 and 35 per cent of its readers are above 40 years. Percentage of newspaper readership between 20-29 age is the highest while the age between 50-54 is the lowest percentage of newspaper readership. According to Nielsen Media Research, newspaper in Malaysia has a mainly younger readership, with 62 per cent below 40 and 38 per cent of its readers are above 40 years. Percentage of newspaper readership between 20-29 age is the highest while the age between 50-54 is the lowest percentage of newspaper readership. The readership of age above 55 years old in 2006 increases 3.5% compared with the readership of age 55 years old in 2005. The old generation between the age of 55 and above are still enthusiastic supporters of newspapers while the younger generation appear to be much in tune with computers and the internet. The newspapers are not only challenged by online websites but also the electronic media having regular updates in the news bulletin. Many youngsters enjoyed reading serious news on the internet rather than from the newspapers. Hence, newspaper publisher should focus on public from the age of 55 and above. According to a statistic from Department of Statistics, Malaysia, the population of Malaysia is increasing. The population of age 15 and below is decreasing every year. The decreasing rate of year 2002 to 2004 is 0.3% whereas the decreasing rate of year 2005 to 2008 is 0.2%. The population of age 64 and above is increasing every year by 0.1 % except for the year 2005 and 2006 which remain same at 4.3%. The same pattern of readership frequency could also be observed among the respondents with different educational backgrounds. According to The Public Awareness of Science and Technology Malaysia 2000, the frequency of newspaper readership continued to be the highest among those with tertiary education where 60.0% of them read the newspaper daily. This was followed by those with secondary education (44.1%) with the lowest frequency (28.1%) among those with primary or lower education. In terms of locality, The Public Awareness of Science and Technology Malaysia 2000 also revealed that 49.3% of the urban respondents read the newspaper daily compared to those in rural areas (39.8%). On the frequency of readership, the opposite situation could also be observed in the other categories (a few times a week, once a week, or seldom). For example, about one-third (32.1%) of the rural respondents and similarly about 34.4% of the urban respondents read newspapers only a few times a week. Identify the rivalry currently exists in the industry in which the company is operating. Are there many competitor or just a few competitor or no competitor? There are many competitors around Star Publication. For instance, Berita Harian, Guang Ming Daily, Sin Chew Jit Poh, The Sun Daily, Utusan Malaysia, and also New Straits Times. The largest Star Publication newspaper competitor is the New straits Times. The sell recommendation of analysts on Star Publications (M) Bhd are the countrys largest and most profitable print media group and as well as other media stocks, such as Media Chinese International Ltd and The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd, shows the current negativity on the industrys earnings prospects in the coming quarters, if not years. The Nielsen Media Report shows that Stars gross adex dived 20.6% y-o-y in January. Citi Investment Researchs analyst Alyson Shin has noticed that the page count for classified advertisements, which make up 25% of Stars advertising revenue, has fallen 33% to 40 pages from 60 pages in better times. Alyson Shin mention that Star has raised its advertising rates by an average 4% for both classified and display advertisements for the heavier days which is Wednesday to Saturdays. However, this is unlikely to be sufficient to offset the drop in adex in FY (Financial Year) 2009. Factoring in the 4% ad rate hike, we still forecast adex to contract 12% in FY2009, Alyson Shin comments in a February research report. Over the past two decades, Star has grown by shooting up and bounds in terms of earnings as well as manpower, after its English daily, The Star, overtook its main rival New Straits Times. The groups fixed operating costs have blown up. Its total operating costs that inclusive of printing and the newsprint have been above RM600 million in the past three years. This ascend to RM651.2 million in FY (financial year) 2008 versus revenue of RM831 million and net profit of RM138.9 million. The high fixed cost structure is a blessing for the group when advertisers are fighting for space in the newspaper because of the profit margin is getting bigger as the advertisement relative amount rises. Star has been the case this for over the past 10 years. It is the countrys most profitable newspaper with a handsome pre-tax profit margin of 24.2%, compared with its rival NST (New Strait Times) which manages only 9.5%. NSTP lost much of its thump over the past 25 years, especially on two separate occasions. During Operasi Lalang in October 1987, Star Publications (M) Bhds licence was revoked under a plan to crack down on the opposition leaders and social activists. After Star got back its licence, its readership and circulation surged. According to Nielsen Media Research, as at end-2008, NSTPs flagship newspaper New Straits Times had a readership of 308,000 while New Sunday Times readership stood at 263,000. As at end-June last year, New Straits Times circulation, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, stood at 136,530 while that of New Sunday Times was 156,910. These figures cannot rival that of its main competitor, Star Publications, which had a readership of more than one million for both its daily and Sunday paper. Stars circulation was over 300,000 daily. Are the products/ services offered by company very much different from its competitors in terms of price/feature/others. KUNTUM An educational monthly in Bahasa Malaysia for children ages 6 to 12. In keeping with its Learning is Fun motto, the Kuntum Club organises many fun activities and ho

Challenges of the UAE in Demographic Imbalance

Challenges of the UAE in Demographic Imbalance Introduction Prosperity, one of a national interests of the UAE, requires development in all sectors of the UAE. People in the UAE cannot grant the desired prosperity by using local human resources; so development always requires foreign expertise. The number of expats has increased proportionally with the growth of the economy. Even with the growth of UAE national population, the ratio of citizens to non-citizens has severely decreased which caused the imbalance in population. The demographic imbalance has become one of most complex issue to for the UAE which created several challenges that should be addressed. The development   Economic development since the establishment of the UAEunion caused that the expats to reached to 88 % of the population in 2010. When we compared this figure with the situation in EU, where people can barley tolerate an average share of 6.5 % foreigners plus 9.4 % foreign-born new citizens. In the period from 2005 to 2010, the average growth rate for citizens was about 3% every year while non-national population has increased from 3.3 m to 7.2 m , which confirmed the statistics that says UAE is has the most rapid growth rate in population in the world in the period from 2005 since 1950s.These figures are enough to illustrate how the UAE is a unique case in population imbalance. Opportunity or threats Expat labor s are  is one of the main tool  tools for development that contributes to the accomplishment of construction, development programs, and the establishment of the basic infrastructure necessary for economic development. On the other hand, foreign labors led to numerous negative consequences, some of which being still persistsent. The presence of foreign labor in the UAE has turned from a development tool to a challenge that may be turn into a threat to national security from different aspects. The challenges can be categorize into four aspects: culture, economy, policies, and security. The impact of demographic imbalance on culture The presence of more than 200 nationalities who came from different religion, heritage and traditions merged ways of communications among people in the UAE[a1], which interact together daily in a limited area. This leads to the transnational spread of ideas, values and information among people with different cultures, this interaction includes ideologies and believes or even politics[a2]. In 2012, Arab nationalities consisted of 28% of population including citizens, while the Indian and Pakistani nationalities above 50% , which makes the Arabic language it the third in the country after Urdu and English languages. This is true if we assume that all Arabs speak Arabic. Unfortunately, lots of young Emiratis are more comfortable speaking English language instead of their Arabic, they even text each other in English when using communication technology. Furthermore, some elder citizens try to practice it too despite their weakness in speaking English. Moreover, names of residential complexes, streets and shop labels are dominated by foreign names, it witnessed Chinese sometimes. In media, such as radio, programs that presented in other languages are much more than Arabic even though most of them are produced and emitted in the UAE. When comparing the case of the UAE to other countries, countries use only their own languages domestically even if nobody else speaks his langu age such as Turkey and Korea, so what makes new generation of emaraties abandon their mother language is not only the need of to talk with the majority of the foreign peoplepopulation, but because of the weakness of culture that influenced by foreign cultures which consist not only for language, but for a combination of tradition, customs and values. Another challenges is the influence of presence of domestic servants. UAE has a high number of domestic workers helpers as domestic helps which came come from other cultures,: the statistics suggested that 96% of Emarati families employ them, those helpers have been converted to many things such as personal servant or nannies. Most of Emirati families rely on them to raise their children from very young age, they leave their kids in a companion of their domestic servants more than the biological family members. The low cost of domestic servant made people more dependent which perform 80% of parental tasks and responsibilities .This impacts the bonds between mothers and children, as the kids are more drawn toward their care taker and they tend to learn various other languages instead of mother tongue. Another recent issue came to UAE culture that UAE ladies are followed by their domestic servants publicly in shopping malls, hospitals, and parks, which reflects the ignorance of these l adies publicly[a3]. The low cost of domestic servant made people more dependent which perform 80% of parental tasks and responsibilities . The presence of high number of foreign people in UAE caused the creation of a lot of foreign academic institutions locally, the drawback that identifies this case is the threat by these schools which consists of minority of citizen students whom identity may depleted diluted among other identities. Normally, in other countries, foreigners tend to learn the national language for their interest and for the possibility of granting a nationality of hosted country, but in the UAE foreign people insists to preserve their own culture because they understand the difficulty to of getting UAE citizenship so they believe that they would go back to their country at some time to entertain their cultureeventually. Moreover, citizens are who have to[a4] The challenges of demographic imbalance on Economy Economy is the main driver for the influx of foreign people to the country. As people welfare is one of the main objective to maintain life prosperity, this welfare needs a strong economy which cannot be existsed without human resources at all levels and specialists. This demand of expats caused this imbalance. UAE’s economy is expanding according to the strategy of economic diversification. To maintain the economic growth rate, industries create lot of jobs in this market including high skill professionals and law skill worker, both of them usually does not fit citizens. Thus, citizen consists less than 5% in private sector while more than 95% are expats , this figure even exceeded the agreed ratio among labor ministries of GCC which should be less than 20% , which created another challenges that confront political decisions. Even the idea of emiratization in such sectors could not be pragmatic practicle due to the lack of skill that demanded by these industries. Therefore, the, the recruitment of foreigners to fill these opportunity vacancies instead. The role of foreign people is a vital to maintain the prosperity speciallyespecially for citizens’ welfare, that makes citizens relinquish some of their values to maintain their life prosperitystyle. Foreign people have the right to seek better life too, so by the time, old comers try to upgradeimprove their life style, so they would demand more newcomers to provide welfare for them too, which would add more imbalance to the population. It is a vicious circle. The majority of the expatriates working are single males from various Asian. Salaries of single staff who working in the country would be repatriated to his home country with very limited material benefit to the UAE. This would impact the UAE economy and would loses opportunities in local human resource investments too. This situation indicates that UAE are beingsuffers from massively financially drainage :; Iin 2014, remittances were more than 140 billion dirhams that transferred abroad, the continuation of this drainage is unhealthy phenomenon for the economy. Impact of demographic imbalance on policies The issue of foreign labor in the UAE became a political and global issues. In the context of International Labor Agreements and the implications for international economic systems, Some of these agreements request giving expat workers citizenships which is an evidence of political interface interference under the pressure of NGOs and international community. One of the consequences is the possibility of turning of foreign workers into lobbying powers. In fact, some Asian governments demanded UAE government to review employment agreements for alleged lack of appropriate safety measures in the workplace, this demands attracted more actors around the world such as embassies to put more pressure whether it is true or exaggeration. India has become capable to put pressure on political decision-makers, in favor of this large community. Furthermore, there are some concerns about the possibility of these communities demanding the right to autonomy in case of they become the majority of a sp ecific nationality. The foreign communities in the UAE have even have a second generation of immigrants who could become over time citizens with their own social status. They might turn into political movements that express their thoughts, aspirations and demands. Other political demands emerge more apparently in the US State Department annual report on human rights. In 2013 the department issued a report included workers rights in several sections. The laws of freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining such as allowing an employer to suspend an employee for striking and low wages. Prohibition of child labor and minimum age for employment and the acceptance condition of work. However, lot of regulation already been set and amended in the ministry of labor such as Wages Protection System (WPS) that set in 2010 and the prohibition of the use of children who used to be Asian or African in camel races. Therefore, this amendment shows the consequences toof the interference of the international organization in regards to foreign workers and shows the desire of the UAE government to develop better situation to people which turned these criticisms into opportunity. This challenges had opportunities too; several entities related to human rights has been founded including the Human rights department in the ministry of interior and Human rights association in Dubai. These organizations has enhanced the world perception about lot of issues such as children abuse and human trafficking. Furthermore, it developed the judicial system and rebuilt the reputation of the UAE that distorted by some NGOs. In October 2013, the UAE obtained a recognition in the area of human rights. The UAE was first among Arab countries and fourteenth globally on the International Human Rights Rank Indicator (IHRRI), published in 2013 by the Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD). Impact of foreign worker on security The UAE witnessed lots of demonstrations that carried out by expat workers, Asians in particular, demanding to improveimprovement of working conditions. Labor protests resulted in disagreement with some issue in their own country such as the protest in 2007 set by 600 Chinese workers against their recruitment company in Chinea asking that the money they paid should be returned, they marched in Sharjah and blocked some road in the industrialy area. Such as demonstration might become a security threat if it deviateds from peaceful objectives and headed to the destruction of public properties as happened in Ras Alkhaimah in April 2015 when laborers wrecked and set fire to their building site and 17 cars after a worker fell to his death in an apparent suicide which prompted the police to use force to break up demonstration. Another demonstration took place in March 2015 when hundreds of workers from South Asia have staged a rare protest in Dubai ( BCC 2015), they blocked one of the main landmark area in Dubai. Different expats are is inseparable from conflicts between in their own different countries, which meansmean they may be interact influenced with byany future developments taking place abroad. During the Arab spring, a lot of Arab communities demonstrated their support or opposition to their political actions[a5]. An example of the demonstrations resulted in situations that happened abroad by Syria and Libya, as a result, In 2011, Syrians demonstrated in front of their consulate in Dubai, condemning action of Assad in their homeland. The consequentce of these demonstrations is are not always positive, sometimes it is converted to riot which need to be suppressed by forces. Some foreign labors involved in organized crime in various forms. UAE security services have succeeded over the years in discovering networks involved in trafficking, jewelry and liquor, perpetrated by expat labor, particularly Asians. More dangerously, some of these elements have proven to have links to some border crossing organized crime groups, such as money laundering, currency counterfeiting, drug trafficking, and other illegal activity. In addition, this increases the expenditure in security sectors to maintain the internal security. Other challenges of Demographic imbalance Lot of strategies in the UAE has been adopted or revised by foreign people who contributed to build the country, where the role of citizen was limited in managing and leading the development, this contribution gave the chance for foreign consultant organization to manage most of the economic and strategic plans, and it is notable that most of projects especially real estate projects extensively attracted more foreign companies with different identities. Institutions and organizations in the UAE have being been developdevelopingeding continuously. Government sectors which used to comprise of citizens is inflated yearly to absorb the requirements of other sectors that exponentially increase. There are a lot of organizations that have been under pressure to fulfill population demand. General directorate of residency and foreigners affairs is one of the departments that suffer from the imbalance, it is one of organizations that should inflate in accordance [a6]with population . population. Municipalities is another organization that suffered from this imbalance, the requirement of them increasing every year not for the interest of citizens, but for the high number of expats. The high population of foreign people put more pressure on water and energy sectors, and so on for all other services sectors. It is admitted that foreigners are who helped to develop the civilization infrastucture of the country but the surge in development did no t allow enough time to observe on cultural identity in the civilized environment, as cited by Dubai municipality . Another challenge resulted in this imbalance is in the structure of the security forces organization in the UAE which was were originally designed for the population of the UAE, but with the presence of high population such the double expats in 5 years from 2005-2010, this put lots of burden on security services which mainly comprise of minority of citizens, especially when the number of expats is fluctuating as a result of any global or domestic issue. Conclusion Expats in the UAE have greatly contributed to the economic growth including, infrastructure, transportation and domestic needs, as well as raising living standards of nationals, education, and health and social care. However, the rapid development has to trade off several aspects of culture, security and policies. An equilibrium is needed to meet the standard requirement of the UAE and the presence of people to prioritize requirement and to maintain a steady growth to the country to balance the cost-benefit of expats. Needs documentation Ahmed Almualla 1 [a1]Not clear what you mean [a2]More than other means like internet [a3]Why? [a4]Not complete sentence [a5]Need different word [a6]Choice of words

Corruption in Hamlet :: Essays on Shakespeare Hamlet

Corruption in Hamlet  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   An incidental comment from a minor character lays down, in the opening moments of Shakespeare's Hamlet, the theme which is to pin together all its aspects. Francisco the guard says, 'I am sick at heart.' [Act I. Sc. I, 29]. Francisco's sick melancholy is in keeping with the atmosphere of corruption and decay which permeates the play; unexplained, difficult to define, but with a clear component of dread. And, typically, his expression of misgivings is misinterpreted, perhaps even underestimated. Barnardo, seeking palpable reasons for Francisco's distraction, asks whether Francisco has had a quiet watch. Perhaps he wonders if the ghost has disturbed Francisco, but whatever is ailing Franciso remains secret, simply becoming a part of the anxious atmosphere.       We are constantly reminded of the pervading atmosphere of decay through the imagery used in the play. It is a significant point that the ghost, the only character that could arguably be termed an outside observer, and who is certainly qualified to make some form of prophetic judgement, should be one of the prime sources of imagery of decay, poison and rotting.    Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole With juice of cursed hebona in a vial, And in the porches of my ears did pour The leperous distilment . . . . . . doth posset And curd, like eager droppings into milk, the thin and wholesome blood. So did it mine. And a most instant tetter barked about, Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust All my smooth body [Act I, Sc. v, 66 - 78]    A graphic description, especially since only moments before the ghost had instructed Hamlet not to pity it!    Throughout the play we can trace a progression of corruption, that leads to death, through 'disease' in the characters of Polonius, Claudius and Hamlet.       Polonius is perhaps the most obviously corrupt character in Hamlet. His corruption has occurred long before the play begins; the progression is in the extent to which it is revealed to us. From this courteous, almost comically long-winded member of the court, emerges a personality that is first dominating (as he instructs Laertes: 'These few precepts in thy memory/ Look thou character.' [Act I, Sc. iii, 63]), clearly abusive towards Ophelia:    Affection? Pooh! You speak like a green girl, Unsifted in such perilous circumstance,

College Admissions Essay: A Stepping Stone for Others :: College Admissions Essays

A Stepping Stone for Others    I have always had a passion to learn. My interest is in political theory and economics, hoping someday to become a lawyer and stateswoman. I realize that in order to reach any of these goals, a college degree is vital. When I in turn reach my goals, I will use them to encourage and uplift my community by investing my time, money, energy, and influence to become a stepping stone for others.    I feel the most important step in giving back to the community is to stay in the community. As a Mississippi native, I witness first hand some of the financial and economic set backs it faces. Although we are making tremendous progress, I know that I too must do my part in contributing to the well being of my community. So many times the best and brightest of our youth graduate from top Mississippi high schools, continue their college careers in another state, never to return again. After I have obtained my college degree from a Mississippi University, I will become an entrepreneur, contribute to my state by opening up a business, and provide jobs to help stimulate the economy.    With a college degree in the field of political science, and a career in law and politics, I would encourage youth to be active in the political arena. I would offer intern positions in my law firm to help provide youth with first hand experience to further understand our legal and justice system. I would also volunteer my time in becoming a speech and debate coach for a local high school, because it is very important to have corporate and professional involvement with schools. In a hopeful career as a state legislator, or perhaps a congresswoman, I would support legislation that would promote better conditions for our schools and teachers.    My community is very important to me.

MagRec Inc. Essay

1. If I were the manager I would have pushed for a more moral, honest solution to the problem with Partco. The company should have owned up to the poor quality parts and offer to fix any damaged parts for customers. Even though it would have cost the company time and money, it was the right thing to do. I think that if the company were to explain the situation to Partco- with the one bad batch of parts, and assured them that it wouldn’t happen again and they appreciate their long time business and loyalty- that Partco and MagRec could have agreed on some type of solution. Dinah was looking out for the customers and MagRec’s reputation, which the manager should have been concerned about as well. If I were the manager I would have stuck up for Dinah’s viewpoint. 2. I think Dinah had the right intentions in looking out for the company. I don’t think that she personally should have gone to Partco. I think someone in upper level management should have gone to Partco. Dinah going to Partco put the blame on herself, which in turn caused tension between her co-workers and herself. She should have gone to Pat an addition time and rationally and calmly explained her viewpoint and opinion on how to solve the problem. And if Pat wasn’t going to follow through with a solution that she agreed with, then she should start looking for employment else where, because a company with corrupt ethics is not a good company to affiliate yourself with. 3. The cognitive dissonance theory describes a state of inconsistency between an individual’s attitude and behavior. It is when a person alters their behavior based on conflicting situations. I don’t think this theory applies to Dinah because she didn’t let the conflicting situation alter her behavior, she felt MegRec was acting dishonest and knew it wasn’t right so she informed Partco of the situation, despite the consequences she knew she faced.

Discuss the Difficulties in Seeking to Adopt a Common Social Policy

Assignment 2-Take Home Exam (Question 3, 5 and 6) Question 3 Discuss the difficulties in seeking to adopt a common social policy and social welfare agenda among the E. U. member states. Introduction A social policy is a public policy and practice in the areas of health care, human services, criminal justice, education, and labor. (Malcolm Wiener Centre) In European Union, it has passed a long way to seeking adopt a common social policy and social welfare agenda among the E. U. member states. Caune et al has summarized the process of social policy into three steps followed by the milestone of EU.First stage was to create a common market and keep the national welfare policies. During the first stage E. U. did seek to establish a certain policy, such as freedom of movement for workers and freedom of establishment and equal pay and rights for migrant workers. The second stages was Maastricht treaty that creating Maastricht criteria as new economic policy regime and established ‘sof t law management’. The thirds stage was focus onwards coordination and competition of national welfare policies. The treaty of Lisbon which is the recently moment in E.U. social policy, it defines E. U. seeks to assess the significance of the poverty/social inclusion open method of co-ordination in terms of what it indicates about the EU’s engagement with social policy. From the historically, EU was did a lot of works to creating social policy and social welfare agenda. But E. U. still faces many difficult to making a common social policy among E. U. states. Furthermore, this essay will mainly discuss on the difficult in seeking to adopt a common social policy and social welfare agenda among the E. U. ember states which are based understand and analyzed the history and concept of E. U. social policy. Discussion From the three stages of form a social welfare system, we could found European Union has really well social welfare systems as an example for the rest of the wo rld. It has maintained social equality among EU members which defend weaker market participants and guarantee them acceptable standards of living. However, EU is now face great challenges, such as rapid growth in EU expansion and integration, growing competition among member states for investments.Most of them are now becoming difficult to a adopt a further common social policy EU, such as increasing about personal expectancy, population migration process, growing income inequality and the existing social exclusion. These difficulties are mainly coming from two sources which are national and European level. If EU aims to form a common social policy, they will firstly facing a problem of different social policies pursued by member states. Rutkauskiene indicated that there is† no unanimous opinion about all existing social policy in EU. (Rutkauskiene, 2009) Every member states have their social policy depends on different typology, such as Mediterranean model and antipodean mode l. These different social policy models in the place which lead EU faces a huge challenge-too many different social policy model in the members will hinder the process of adopt a common social policy in EU. One of the objectives of common social policy is maintain social equality among EU member state but each member state has a different economic situation that leading to different budget on social welfare expenditure.Hence, there will be conflict between different countries investment on the social welfare. One of the example are from the EU integration process, employee are free to move to a low cost countries and also employee from poor countries can move to a member state that has a better work condition. The enlargement or integration of European has becoming one of the difficulties in order to adopt a common social policy in EU because it has direct on the social issues, such as unemployment rate and fair work rights.Traser describe enlargement had already, in 2004, caused pu blic anxiety about large numbers of low-skilled and semiskilled workers from the new Member States seeking both employment and benefits in the EU-15, and displacing national workers with cheap labour. (Traser, 2005) The issues about free movement of employee is only one example about the differences of economic situation between member states but it can be a main difficulties for EU to adopt a common social policy because the members state are only stand for their own country and competing with other member states.In the European level, EU are also did a lot of work trying to leading member states participate on the process of adopt a common social policy but it is difficult as well. Since the Maastricht Treaty a concept of ‘soft law’ management measures are used to implementation of the EU activates. This has given to the control measures that are based on voluntarism, education and the sharing of best practices. (Rutkauskiene, 2009) In other world, member’s sta te is voluntary participation in an exchange of information or action.The European council collected all these soft measurement 2000 in Lisbon and give them a name of ‘Open Method of Coordination. (OMC)† (European Council Web) In the European council website explained OMC- set goals are monitored and supervised, best practices are shared and there is a scope to share. (European Council Web) But there are one important feature of the OMC is that goals and achievement are established at the EU level, while the measure and practice to achieving them are left for national governments. Many scholar are debate the disadvantage of this method.OMC is the lack of obligation to implement any agreements, and the lack of sanctions for failing to meet any obligations (Szyszczak, 2006). In other words, EU did not give in to any suggestion about policy to national government, and national government did not need to adequately orient their active measures according to OMC goals. Moreove r, each member states can present their own conclusions on the certain policy areas in their national actions plans, such as pension and health care area. Rutkauskiene has found a greatest number of faults in pension’s area caused by OMC. Rutkauskiene, 2009) Everyone is too different in their personal needs and clamming to adequate for all is not feasible. So a government policy should be set a minimum pension sum to be guaranteed and set of this agreement among EU member states. In other worlds, it is necessary that guidelines for changes in indicator evaluation are set, thereby blocking the way for different understanding about social affairs. From the different argument on OMC policy we can it was mainly established a principle of turning into coordination among EU member state but it facing difficulties turning this policy into an operational manner.Vandenbroucke state the post challenge of Lisbon treaty is EU need an operational social policy. (Vandenbroucke, 2002) Unfor tunately, according to the discussion that the current OMC policy has some disadvantaged that made difficulties for EU to adopt a common social policy. Conclusions This essay has started with an introduction milestone of adopt the EU social policy. The difficulties in adopt a common social policy among EU member states have been compounded furthermore by the fact that large number of state in EU and each of them implementing a different social programs and social policy measures.Then we look on how European Union to dealing with this difficulties of great variety in the social policy systems. We have been chooses the current model to coordinate of social affairs in 2000 at the signing of Lisbon strategy which are Open Method of Coordination. Based on the analysed from different academic literature, â€Å"the main shortcomings of the OMC were identified as the lack of obligation and no sanctions for failing to carry out the activities set out in the agreements reached. (Rutkauskiene , 2009) Hence, the inefficiency of current policy is other main difficulties in adopt a common social policy. At the end, the process of adopt a common social will be forward in the future and the difficulties are also coming continuously at different stages. Reference Arnaudova, F. Z. L. A. A. (2011). Growth, well-being and social policy in Euroep: trade-off orsynergy. European Social Policy Centre Concuil, E. , from http://ec. europa. eu/invest-in research/coordination/coordination01_en. htm Daly, M. (2006). EU Social Policy after Lisbon.Queen's Univeristy, Belfast. Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy. Retrieved 10 Jan 2013, from http://www. hks. harvard. edu/centers/wiener Palier, P. R. G. a. S. J. a. B. (2011). The EU and the Domestic Politics of Welfare State Reforms. England. Rutkauskiene, L. (2009). Problems in the formation of the common EU social policy: Vilnius Univeristy. Szyszczak, E. (2006). Experimental Governance: The Opend Method of Coordination. European Law Jou rnal. Traser, J. (2005). Report on the free movement of workers in EU-25: who's afarid of EU enlargment? Brussels:European Citizen Action services. Vandenbroucke, F. (2002). The EU and Social Protection: What should the Euroepan Convention Propose. Retrieved from http://econstor. eu/bitstream/10419/44291/1/644397675. pdf Vobruba, G. Debate on the enlargement of the Euroepan Union. University of Leipzig. Question 5 the single market is the fundamental economic underpinning of the EU. Discuss why  this single market is problematic in the EU with regards to the digital technology sector Introduction The Europe commission in a 1985 white paper launched the single market programme.The main purpose of single market is ‘seeks to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people – the EU's â€Å"four freedoms† – within the EU's 27 member states. †(European Commission Web) It was launched as the fundamental economic integration of the EU. It creates large benefit to the enterprise and EU-citizens. The European commission and the EU’s executive arm, has target ‘energy, digital and transport sectors as priorities for depending market integration. †(Egen) In relating to the digital technology sector, the world economic is now more deepening on the digital technology.A 2010 study commissioned by the European Policy Centre from Copenhagen Economics showed that an integrated European Digital Single Market (DSM) would lead to an increase in GDP of at least 4%, with concrete benefits for consumers and citizens. (Economics, 2010) European commissions have already been set in motion about importance of digital single market. For example, Monti report had already highlighted the importance of developing the digital single market, which was also reflected in the digital agenda and the single market act.However, there are still many problem existed in the EU with regards to the digital technology sector. This e ssay will outline of the reasons of why this single market is problematic in digital sector, which are mainly because of less enforce on inappropriate regulation in the member states and cost effectiveness and differences in provision of the infrastructure and ‘old national monopolists’. Discussion In Pablo’s report, which has summaries the European commission need to work more on to build trust and confidence in digital single market.Echeverria has indicated that â€Å"European Commission need to stresses that the consumer rights directive marked an important step forward in terms of increasing legal certainty for consumers and businesses in online transactions, and today constitutes the main consumer protection instrument for online services. † (Echeverria) A single market strategy will require a higher level of legal regulations in regarding to issues such as cybercrime, data privacy and spam while ensuring free movement and the possibility of transacti ons on the internet.Otherwise this single market will be a problematic in digital sector because of the existence of a patchwork of different legal provisions and barely interoperable standards and practices. Also the consumer can’t access the full benefits from this strategy if this regulation is poor. European commission’s report of building the digital single market has identified more and more pollution is using the digital technology now. (Commission, 2011) Peoples are now using more internet service to making a convenience life, such as the online cross border trade.Moreover the digital single market will allow citizens to have access throughout the EU to all forms of digital content and services. So in order to creating single market digital sector, if people are not use digital service in a safety environment then there will be a data protection problems. The other reasons of why  this single market is problematic in the EU with regards to the digital technol ogy sector, which is cost effectiveness. In Zuleeg’s report has determine that a single digital market will require large scale investments in fixed and mobile networks, with much of this investment needing to come from private operators. Zuleeg, 2012) Especially in the European finical crisis period, Europe government and private operator will need to have spent more to support this investment by developing new investment vehicles and guarantees. Michelle Egan also defines a digital single market is a long way of investment and still have many barriers now. (Egan) But the single market in digital sector will improve productivity and contribute to increasing Europe’s medium to long term competiveness. It also brings out benefit beyond the economic which it can help some societal problem, such as fragmented labor market and environment problems.According to all of this facts, we can finding the single market can bring large benefit to citizens and social but it will nee d to put extra investment by government and private operator. So this single market will bring out a conflict between internal users and external stakeholders because of cost effectiveness. A study by Copenhagen economic has list out â€Å"there is a range of national and international operators, totalling close to 100 mobile operators. â€Å"(Copenhagen economic) In the Australia digital sector there are mainly one operator provide the most mobile and internet infrastructure which are Telstra.The digital sector is fragmented in European compared with other countries. The most of the digital companies are competing on a national scale instated of across borders. None have continent-wide operations and provide difference in provisions of infrastructure. One of the example is there are still less operator can provide mobile service across borders and also with a high roaming fees. However the single market strategy in digital sector is trying to integrate these companies into one gr oup.This single market strategy may become problematic in the digital technology sector because a fragmented supplier industry may hamper certain developments. From the overall finding, we can operator is the main stakeholder with a large impact on the digital sector. The study by Copenhagen has further explained this fact as â€Å"a lack of market consolidation with ‘old national monopolies’ keeping their strong position in local markets due to government protection in the past. â€Å" The operators are stress on their profit and ignore the importance of single market.One of the major benefits of European single market is increasing competition, leading to lower prices and better welfare for consumers and society as a whole. But the operator has main power in the national market and can refuse price convergence. Conclusion At the end, the single market in digital will have large impact on European economy either in public sector or employee or consumers or producer s ides. But according to the nature of digital technology sector which is fragmented industry and investment barriers so the single market has being a problematic in this industry.Reference Completing the internal market White paper from European Commission to European Council (1985). Brussels. Commission, E. (2011). Building the digital single market-cross border demand for content services. Echeverria, P. A. On completing the digital single market Economics, C. (2010). The conomic impact of a european digital single market. Egen, M. Twenty years after the completion of the EU's single market programme, member states have still not eliminate all barriers to trade. London: The london school of economic and politcal science. Zuleeg, F. (2012).A digital single market by 2015. eSharp. European Mobile Indsutry Obeservatory. (2011) Monti, M. (2010). A new strategy for the single market. â€Å"The Single Market†. Europa web portal. http://ec. europa. eu/internal_market/index_en. htm. Retrieved 03 January 2012. Question 6 what are the problems to be encountered in forming a European sense of identity among the citizenry of the EU? Introduction A sense of a national identity is â€Å"the person's identity and sense of belonging to one state or to one nation, a feeling one shares with a group of people, regardless of one's citizenship status. (Smith, 1993) Usually, these are nation-states but it also can implied an entity group of European Union. McCormick writes sense of European identity as â€Å"a related term of Europeanism refers to the assertion that the people of Europe have a distinctive set of political, economic and social norms and values that are slowly diminishing and replacing existing national or state-based norms and values. †(McCormick, 2010) Johan Borneman indicates the practices of Europeanization in term of languages, money, tourism and sex and sport. Borneman 1997) European Union are getting practice on this through the creation of the European single market, the expanded the European Union from twelve members in 1985 to twenty-seven members in 2007 and link the legislative and policy frameworks of EU with European identity. As we explained before EU has a long history of this integration process but there are still many problems encountered in forming a European sense of identity among the citizenry of the EU. There are especially in some countries are having this problems such as British.Moreover, this essay will discuss on the main problems that are in forming a European sense of identity among the citizenry of the EU. It also will consider some examples in English. Discussion Medrano has summarized the main problems into three section which are â€Å". 1) conflated behaviour in referenda on reform treaties of the European Union, support for European integration, and identification with Europe, 2) conflated different dimensions of European identity, and 3) failed to unpack the various meanings that citizens a ttach to the idea of identification with Europe† (Medrano, 2010)In the detail, the first problems are mainly concerned on the public debate on European identity. Many people see no opportunity to influence supranational decisions effectively because there are lacks of intermediary actor primary covering European issues. In the public, the media or journalists are both have lack of supporting on EU news. Vreese said â€Å"It is difficult to ‘sell’ an EU story. † (Vreese, 2004) Medrano has asked many journalists do you agree you play an important role in ‘crating a European identify’. (Medrano, 2010) The most of them unanimously agreed that the answer should be ‘NO’.Some journalists believe their role is to create engagement and interest and not to influence identity. One of the examples is in British, the public opinion is divided and the country is becoming the most of skeptic members in EU with regards to EU policy of common curre ncy and the enlargement. There is other problem influencing public opinion about Europe, such as difference in social-demographic characteristics. Most of researcher has find men being more supportive of Euro-pan integration and higher levels of education are associated with being more positive towards the EU.The second problems listed by Medrano, can be described as there are having many dimensions of European identity either by national or citizen. If there are too many dimensions of European identity that will results a lack of precision use in the use of the sense of European identity. The official dimensions of European identity is a precondition for a democratically legitimise European Union with feeling of belonging together of the people living in the member states, including the awareness and the support of common values, achievements and aims.But in related to a real case the European identity is far lagging behind national identity. Fukuyama has given one example of Franc es created a strong national identity by built around the French languages. (Fukuyama, 2012) In order to compared within the EU’s dimension, EU are more stress on political and policy identity but the nation’s dimensions are more focus on culture and social level. EU has 27 members within different culture and religion. These countries have already built on different level of national identity.EU is now trying to integrate this national identity into one common identity which is European identity. So EU needs to conflate different dimension of European identity. The third problems is failed to consider the citizen’s ideal about European identity. The EU defines concept of European identity are most physically based, such as free movement of goods and service. But the officials should to promote a sense of belonging to Europe citizens emotionally. Medrano stated there are lacks of identification with Europe among citizens are mostly interested in the emotional di mension of identification. (Medrano,2010)Besides of Medrano’s measured three problems, there are still many other problems in order to create a sense of European identity. One of these problems are EU has less use any knowledge or instruments of identity policy to deliver the sense of European identity, such as education. Walkenhorst writes â€Å"without a sense of commitment and knowledge of citizenship rights the European peoples cannot establish a democratic identity in the sense of supporting the EU as a legitimate political system†. (Walkenhorst, 2004) EU also will not being able to demonstrate its benefits for the European citizen without using an instrument of identity policy.For instance, provide more education or program on spread the sense of European identity will also help to avoid the problems of different religions. EU has different religions identity, such as Christian and Muslim. The concept of European identity need to consider the ideal of multicultur alism and democracy. Conclusions This essay draws an analysis of the problems encountered in forming a sense of European identity which are based on an understanding what is a sense of European identity and how could generate a sense of identity.Since the firstly forming a European Union, EU are trying to creating a sense of European identity. A sense of national or regional identity is an emotionally feeling belongs to a group. EU did a lot of work that letting people are physically feeling of European citizen, such as free movement of people and goods. One of the examples, are Eurostar given people are more mobility in traveling around European. However, EU is now facing problems on ignored the citizen’s emotionally feeling of European identity and conflicts of different dimension about European concept of identity.Each member state and citizens has different dimension about European identity. The best way to solve this problem is using accurate instrument to spread the ide al of European identity, such as education and media. But the fact is there is lack of use media and education that results a problems in forming a sense of European identity. Reference Adrian Favell, E. R. , Theresa Kuhn, Janne Solgaard Jensen and Juliane Klein. (2011). The Europeanisation of Everyday Life: Cross-Border practices and Transantional Identitifcations Among the Eu and Third-Country Citizens. Foweler, J. B. a. N. (1997).Europeanization. Annual Review. Retrieved from http://www. jstor. org/stable/2952532 . Fukuyama, F. (2012). European Identities Retrieved from http://blogs. the-american-interest. com/fukuyama/2012/01/10/european-identities-part-i/ Margaret R, A. (2008). Perceptions of European Identity among EU Citizens: An Empirical Study. McCormick, J. (2010). Europeanism: Oxford University Press. Medrano, J. D. (2010). Unpackiing European Identity: CAIRN, INFO. Smith, A. D. (1993). National identity: Univeristy of Nevada Press. Versteegh, M. L. C. (2010). European Ci tizenship as a New Concept for Euroepan Identity.