Reflecting On Personal Experience Breaking From Nursing Duties Nursing Essay

Reflecting On Personal Experience Breaking From Nursing Duties Nursing Essay Gibbs reflective cycle is really useful in making us think through all the phases of an activity or an experience that we had. It really helps in analyzing the event. As a practitioner and also more than that being a human being we all remember the event that really did not go well. We must not be too hard or too restricted about ourselves. The Evaluation phase will make us think about the positive and negative things and also about the areas for improvement. Reflective practice is connected with learning from understanding and is viewed as an significant approach for health professionals who hold close life-long learning. The act of reflection is seen as a way of encouraging the development of independent, competent and self-governing professionals Appealing in reflective training is allied with development in the excellence of care, motivating individual and professional growth, and concluding the gap between theory and practice. This encourages a clear explanation of the circumsta nces, investigation of feelings, evaluation of the occurrence, and analysis to understand how we will respond if again such situation arises. This type of reflection studies is very important and they really help to analyze our experiences and also enable us to cope with the patients in a good manner in the future. Through this study i have gained some professional knowledge and it helped me to set some personal goals on my own and rest in my professional life i can work keeping all these things in mind. The two main areas of focus are to make an effective communication with the patient and also try to keep a good and healthy relation with the patient. Description: In this part am going to explain about n situation that has taken place during my clinical placement in India. I got the duty in the cardiac ward and duty was going on smooth. Personally am an individual who cares my patient more and listen to their problems. One day a 55 years old man named A was admitted in the clinic because for undergoing bypass surgery. All the details were collected and he was admitted in a ward. He was given dress and was then instructed to be on the bed and take rest. The time was around 4 pm and I went for tea break. When i came back I was really shocked. The person was having mental disability and he fell down from the bed. Suddenly bleeding hematoma occurred and the patient was transferred to Coronary Care unit (CCU). He was in CCU for two days and after that he met with death. This event was really shocking to me and it was a worst day in my life. I could not sleep well because it was ma carelessness which caused the death of a person. I would never leave him alone in his bed especially when there was no one with him. At that time there were no relatives with him and I went for tea break. A minor mistake in my duty caused the death of a person. The main goal of a nurse is to care his patient and I did a opposing action even though it was not purposely. Feelings: It is one of the unforgettable events in my life which I always remember. I really felt so bad and depressed at that time and when I saw his wife my degree of depression again escalated. Even when he was admitted in the CCU I expected that he will survive and I was daily praying for that and even my family did the same thing. It was completely the mistake of staff which caused the death of that child. During the time when he was in CCU I was with his wife all the time and even I felt her as my mother. She was so tired and I bought food and drinks for her and when she refused to have that I was feeding her. I was crying in my mind because if i had done my duty without any faults she would not have lost her husband and their children will have their father. After this particular even am always attentive in my duty and will not allow any minor error to occur in my duty and I always try to be punctual. Evaluation: Evaluating this particular event I can understand the worst thing I did was I went for tea break when no one was with him. According to the hospital rules we were instructed to take the vulnerable consent of the admitted person of he is above six years. I forgot that procedure and that person had mental disorder. The person with mental disorders is usually tied over to the bed and I forgot that formality. It was the careless thing I did in my life. As a result of that he fell down from the bed and his head hit the floor and sudden bleeding occurred. It made me so depressed and only the care and concern I gave to his wife and children relaxed up to a small extent and I went through a bad situation in my life Analysis: The moral I learned out of this bad event is that doing the duty without a chance of minor gap is so essential or even else it can result in some serious issues. The problem was that I forgot to take the consent of the person and I left him alone. Another alternative for me to go for the tea break was to tell somebody else to take care of him until I come back. I forgot to do everything and did not take serious care for that person. Afterwards I am very strict in my duties and always talk to my patients and their relatives and try to understand their problem. Communication has a great role in building a relationship. Conclusion: I could conclude that I understood the significance of communication with the patient such as talking with them and their relatives, paying concern for them, trying to have a in depth knowledge about the patient and try not to make any minor faults in the duties. Actually helping his wife and children was a good experience for me who actually defines the nursing job and it really helped me to relax. Even though they were able to charge case against me they did not do that because of my care, compassion, and support for them. Action Plan: My action plan for the in the future when similar event occurs is that I will care the patient to my best and will talk with them freely and try my level best to understand their problem and help them. The strength of a relation lies in proper communication between the patient and the nurse and it is very important for nurse because they are closer to the patient. According to the nurses they define healing as caring the patient as proper care is better than medicine in some cases. One of the main goals of the health care worker is to provide the best care for my patients. In order to build a good relationship with the patient proper communication with them is very essential and it must be continuous in nature also. Another action plan I would like to add to this is that to understand the disability of the patients for example, problems such as deafness, mental disability, blindness and so more care can be given to them. Another important point is that a nurse should be lenient and m ust withstand any behaviour from the patient and should never misbehave with their patients. In this report I have described my clinic experience using the Gibbs reflective model and also doing this reflective study help us to remember things in an easy way because practical knowledge is better than theoretical knowledge. In this Reflective study I narrated my experience using the Gibbs frame work model.

Report to the Management of Wilson, Tan & Associates

Introduction This report provides an evaluation of the performance of the performance of two U.K companies that operate in the fashion industry with the objective of identifying a suitable takeover target for Wilson & Tan Associates. The report covers the financial performance of the two companies based interpreted in the context of the business environment in which they operate. The two companies included in the report include Supergroup Plc and Mulberry Plc. The analysis is based on the group statement of financial position as at 2011 and 2010 and the group income statement for the years ending 2010 and 2011. The rest of the report is organised as follows: section 2 focuses on analysing the financial performance of both companies in relation to their industry and economic environment; and section 3 provides conclusions and recommendations on which company to take over. Analysis of the Performance of Supergroup Plc and Mulberry Plc Appendix 1 contains the ratios of both companies over the period 2010 and 2011. The ratios cover a variety of areas including profitability, liquidity, management efficiency and long-term solvency.ProfitabilityThe ability of a company to generate a return on invested capital is a critical factor in determining the value of the company. Profitability serves as a measure of the competitive position of a company as well as the quality of the management (Penman, 2007; Robinson et al., 2009). It can be observed from appendix 1 that overall profitability of Mulberry Plc is better than that of Supergroup Plc. Supergroup Plc realised a gross profit margin of 55.82% in 2011 up by 6% from its 2010 figure of 52.58%. Despite this high ratio, that of Mulberry Plc was high. The company realised a gross profit margin of 65.4% in 2011 up 11% from its 2010 figure of 59.0%. The operating profit margin of Supergroup Plc was higher than that of Mulberry Plc for both 2011 and 201. However, Mulberry Plc r ealised a greater improvement in the operating profit margin from 2010 to 2011. If the company continues with this spirit it will soon outperform Supergroup Plc. In terms of the net profit margin, return on assets, and return on equity, Mulberry Plc outperformed Supergroup Plc. In addition, Mulberry Plc witnessed a significant improvement in these ratios from 2010 to 2011 while Supergroup Plc witnessed a significant decline in these ratios over the same period. With respect to profitability, both companies appear to be profitable. However, the performance of Mulberry Plc surpasses that of Supergroup Plc. The high profitability observed for these two companies can be attributed to positive developments in the fashion industry. Despite the poor economic climate, the U.K fashion industry is experiencing a growth in revenue. The U.K remains a major manufacturer of clothing and high quality fabrics. The combined textile and clothing industry in the U.K is valued at ?8.5billion worth of goods. Retail sales in the fashion industry in 2009 were approximately ?285billion. Export sales amounted to approximately ?7.3billion at manufacturer’s prices with the U.S.A, Japan, Russia, France, Italy the Middle East, Hong Kong and China being major export destinations (Fashion United, 2011). Rising trends in both export and domestic sales explain why companies in the industry are experiencing increasing profit margins and return on investment as indicated by the ratios of Supergroup Plc and Mulberry Group Plc.LiquidityLiquidity measures a firm’s ability to meet its current financial oblig ations. It is a measure of how well the firm can pay its short-term creditors with its current assets without having to liquidate its non-current assets. In order words, liquidity measures how quickly the company converts assets into cash (Myers and Brealey, 2002; Penman, 2007). Appendix 1 also presents liquidity ratios for Supergroup Plc and Mulberry Plc. It can be observed that Supergroup Plc has a better liquidity position than Mulberry Plc. Supergroup Plc had a current ratio of 2.81 in 2011 up 1% from 2.79 in 2010. On the contrary, Mulberry Plc had a current ratio of 1.62 in 2011 down 24% from 2010. The quick ratio of Supergroup Plc was 1.59 in 2011 down 17% from 1.91 in 2010 compared to a quick ratio of 0.97 for Mulberry plc in 2011 down 34% from 1.48 in 2010. Considering only the current and quick ratios, it can be observed that Supergroup plc can meet its current liabilities with its current assets better than Mulberry plc can do. The cash ratio for both companies in 2011 was less than 1.0 suggesting that cash and cash equivalents are not enough to meet current liabilities. This means that if both companies suffer a write-down in the value of inventory or an increase in bad debts, they would be unable to meet their current liabilities with their current base of cash and cash equivalents. Overall, the liquidity position for both companies is declining although Supergroup Plc appears to be doing better than Mulberry Plc. The deteriorating liquidity for both companies can be attributed to the current economic climate. Bank lending has declined significantly as a result of the global financial crisis. Arranging an overdraft facility has become more difficult compared to what use to be the case before the global financial crisis. Declining liquidity too can be as a result of the constant change in the fashion industry. Clothing inventory becomes obsolete too quickly. This suggests slow moving inventory can result to liquidity constraints for companies that operate in the fashion industry.Management EfficiencyEfficiency ratios are aimed at understanding how well a company manages its activities especially how it efficiently manages its assets. Appendix 1 illustrates a number of efficiency ratios for Supergoup Plc and Mulberry Plc. The inventory turnover of Supergroup plc declined from by 36% from 3.13times in 2010 to 2.01times in 2011. Supergroup is able to turnover more inventory than Mulberry plc who s aw a decline in inventory turnover by 42% from 3.25times in 2010 to 1.88 times in 2011. The decline in the number of times that inventory is turned over led to an increase in the number of days that inventory is outstanding by 56% from 117 days in 2010 to 182days in 2011 for Supergroup Plc and by 73 % from 112 days in 2010 to 194 days in 2011 for Mulberry Plc. This decline in inventory turnover for both companies helps to explain why the liquidity ratios declined. Both companies have increased the number of days that inventory is held thus increasing the probability that inventory may become obsolete and thus result to a deterioration in its value. As far as inventory turnover is concerned, the management of Supergroup Plc is more efficient. The receivables turnover of Mulberry Plc however, is better than that of Supergroup Plc. Mulberry Plc is able to collect its outstanding receivables faster than Supergroup Plc can do. This is reflected in the lower number of days that its receiv ables remain outstanding compared to Mulberry Plc. The purchases turnover of Supergroup Plc is higher than that of Mulberry Plc. In addition, the number of days of payables of Supergroup Plc is higher than that of Mulberry Plc. This suggests that Mulberry Plc is either defaulting on its payments or has a higher bargaining power over its suppliers. The results for Supergroup Plc suggest that it either has a lower bargaining power or does not default on its short term debts. In terms of Payables turnover and receivables turnover, Mulberry Plc outperformed Supergroup plc indicating that the management of Mulberry plc is more efficient in managing its assets than Supergroup plc. Looking at the working capital, fixed asset, and total asset turnover, it can be observed that the performance of Mulberry Plc was better than that of Supergroup plc.Long-term SolvencyThe solvency ratios indicate that Mulberry Plc is in a better solvency position than Supergroup Plc. The company has no long-term debt which makes its debt-to-equity and debt-to-capital ratios equal to zero. Conclusions and Recommendations One can conclude from the above analysis that Mulberry Plc performed better than Supergroup plc over the 2 year period under investigation. While Supergroup plc appears to have a better liquidity position than Mulberry plc, Mulberry plc is more profitable, has a better management and is in a better solvency position than Supergroup Plc. Given its more efficient management, it can work on its liquidity position and improve in subsequent years. In the light of these findings, this report considers Mulberry Plc a better takeover target and thus recommends that the management of Wilson, Tan & Associates should consider placing a takeover bid for it. References Fashion United (2011) Facts and Figures in the UK fashion industry, available online at: http://www.fashionunited.co.uk/facts-and-figures-in-the-uk-fashion-industry, [accessed: 1st February 2012]. Myers, S. C. Brealey, R. A. (2002). Principles of Corporate Finance. 7th Edition McGraw-Hill. Penman, S. (2007) Financial Statements Analysis and Securities Valuation.3rd Edition. McGraw-Hill. Robinson, T. R., Greuning, J. H., Henry, E., Broihahn, M. A. (2009), â€Å"Financial Analysis Techniques† in Financial Reporting and Analysis, CFA Program Curriculum, vol. 3, Pearson Custom Publishing.

Edgar Allan Poe Essay

The many different works of Edgar Allan Poe all aim to do one thing. Strike fear into the heart of the reader. Simple, yet effective, he expresses fear through these many different themes and motifs. At full length, Poe’s stories all acquire a distinct theme or motif that moves the story forward. Whether you know it or not, many of his stories rely on themes and motifs to make the story more appealing to the reader. Time, duality, and dreams all play key roles in Poe’s short stories. They descriptively provide all of the necessary information in order to produce the whole concept of fear. Without them, these stories wouldn’t push you to the edge of your seat, wondering what is going to happen next. Time plays a major role in providing the story with the crucial data it needs to make the story frightening and suspenseful. It presents the story with a visual that makes the mood of the story transition into a very adverse setting. Dusk is probably the most common time of day in many of Poe’s stories. He chooses dusk because, during that time of day, it is very difficult to see. For example, in â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† the narrator begins to describe how it is very difficult to see while he is making his way towards his child hood friend’s mansion. When choosing the time of day that produces little or no light, Poe tries to make the setting as dark as possible. Light represents happiness and positivity, so Poe tries to eliminate anything that represents prosperity. By assembling negative forces, the story will generate fear into the reader. In â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† the narrator stalks his pray for seven days, but on the eighth night the narrator commits the horrible deed. The number eight is used frequently with Poe and his stories; in this case, it represents what day the narrator will kill the old man. With â€Å"Masque of the Red Death†, time represents life. It represents life because once a person is infected with the red death; the infected person has only 30 minutes to live. The ebony clock also represents life, because after every hour the clock will ring, reminding the people that time is running out. This theme is very necessary for producing fear, because if Poe doesn’t clarify what time of day it is, the story loses suspense. So it’s apparent that time is a key necessity in conveying fear into readers. The narrator often produces dreams themselves. Frequently, it presents a distortion of reality for the narrator and the reader. Dreams in Poe’s stories draw the line between reality and fantasy. Many unexplainable things would occur and the narrator would instantly assume it would be his imagination or that he would be dreaming. Providing dreams will make the reader build curiosity into whether or not these bizarre things are real or just images of the narrators eccentric imagination. In â€Å"Masque of the Red Death†, a huge party is thrown, to isolate the people from the disease. In the party, the guests have a great time by dressing up and having a â€Å"perfect† time, until the ebony clock rings. Once the clock rings, the party guests snap back into reality for a short moment. For that short moment, the reader realizes the severity of the situation. That short moment of severity produces fear. During his trip to Rederick’s mansion in â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher†, the narrator feels like the trip is a dream because the environment of the mansion is so surreal. Alcohol provides the narrator in â€Å"The Black Cat† with a distortion of reality, because after he hangs the black cat, he comes across a cat that is identical to the one he hangs after he leaves the bar. The narrator is completely shocked by the resemblance to his previous cat. This similarity conveys fear into the reader, because you can’t tell if it’s the same cat or a different one. The distortion of reality in dreams really help produce fear due to the doubtful events that keep occurring. These events help generate fear and build up the suspense in the reader for a few moments. Duality in the characters conveys the most fear towards the reader. By having a dual persona, the character is able to build up that suspense by having a â€Å"good† side and a â€Å"bad† side. As an animal lover, the narrator in â€Å"The Black Cat† would always love to take care of animals, until he becomes â€Å"consumed by the imp of the perverse† which exposes his negative side. This negativity leads him to killing his cat and his wife. The insanity of having a dual persona helps transmit true fear into the reader. As a young caretaker, the narrator in â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† has nothing against the old man he is looking after; the old man has done nothing wrong to deserve any negative treatment. During the day the narrator would go about his business taking care of the old man, until night came upon. At night, the narrator would be consumed by the old man’s eye. His â€Å"evil eye† leads the narrator to kill his wife and their pet. The duality in both of the these characters are very similar due to them being consumed by some object that leads them into killing their loved ones and pets. All of these themes help produce the backbone of Poe’s stories. Without these themes and motifs, these stories wouldn’t be as suspenseful as they are today. These stories rely on the descriptiveness and the intensity of these themes to carry the suspense and to convey fear into the readers. Today, as people still learn about Poe’s stories, they will still be able to consume the fear that they read due to these themes and motifs.

Examining Exchange Traded Funds - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 10 Words: 2903 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Cause and effect essay Did you like this example? CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In the past few decades many performance evaluation studies indicated that actively managed mutual funds, which seek to obtain excess returns than the market by actively forecasting returns on individual stocks, do not actually obtain statistically significant excess returns (Jensen, 1968; Grinblatt and Titman, 1989; Elton et al., 1993; Malkiel, 1995; Gruber, 1996; Carhart, 1997; Edelen, 1999). This was consistent with the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Efficient Market Hypothesisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ which suggests that due to the availability of all kinds of information, obtaining excess returns should be difficult in a competitive market. These researches suggested a superior investment strategy: the index fund. Instead of actively engaging in stock picking, an index fund passively replicates the risks and returns of an underlying market index by investing in the securities constituting the index in the same weightage as represented in the index. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Examining Exchange Traded Funds" essay for you Create order Since the first index fund launched in early 1970s, investors all over the world have discovered that there are substantial benefits from utilizing index funds as an alternative to actively managed funds. Some such benefits of indexing includes lower management expense ratio (due to passive management of fund), lower turnover and its related expenses due to buy and hold nature of most index funds and tax efficiency when compared to actively managed funds. Like any other mutual fund, index funds may be structured as either open-ended funds or close-ended funds. Open-ended funds, as the name suggests, are open for subscription and redemption for all the investors throughout the year. However, one of the limitations of such funds is that they are priced only once a day, after the close of business. Since all the trades in such funds during the business day are executed at the closing Net Asset Value (NAV), investors are unable to react expeditiously to dramatic changes in a market during the business day. Close-ended funds on the other hand, are open for subscription only once, and can be redeemed only on the fixed date of redemption. Moreover, in order to provide liquidity to such funds, these are listed on stock exchanges (like corporate security) and traded throughout the business day on real time basis. Though the continuous trading of such funds overcome the pricing limitation of open-ended funds, but at the same time also raises the issue of deviation between the trading price and NAV of such funds. Since the overall corpus of close-ended funds remain constant, the daily demand and supply forces often leads to significant premiums or discounts on such funds in the secondary market which is popularly known as closed-end fund puzzle[1]. Recognizing both the appeals of open-ended index funds (continuous creation and redemption of fund units) as well as of close-ended index funds (continuous trading on exchange like a stock), an innovative financial product named Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) was designed in the early 1990s, which combines the beneficial features of both these types of funds. The study entitled à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Cross-Country Analysis of Exchange Traded Funds: A Study of Performance and Trading Characteristicsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  aims at examining this relatively new financial product available to investors, namely, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). The purpose of this chapter is to present the rationale, objectives, testable hypothesis, methodology and the organization of the study. Towards this purpose, the chapter is divided in six sections. Section I is introductory in nature, which briefly describes the nature, origin and growth of Exchange Traded Funds. Section II points out the gap in the existing literature on ETFs and elaborates upon the rationale of the present study. The specification of the objectives of the study is provided in Section III. Section IV contains the testable hypotheses of the study. The research methodology adopted, data set and the time period covered under the study are described in Section V. Finally, Section VI provides the chapter-wise layout of the study. I 1.1 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) represent a security that tracks a stock index, a commodity or a basket of assets like an index fund, but trades like a stock on an exchange. They are hybrid investment instruments which combine the beneficial characteristics of a corporate stock and an index mutual fund. Like an index fund, they provide investors with the benefit of diversification through one investment product, improved tax efficiency relative to active portfolio management, lower expenses and transparency of portfolio. And like a stock, they can be transacted in small quantities, can be short sold or bought on margin and are priced and traded continuously on a stock exchange throughout the trading day. All these features of ETF rely on its specific dual trading system, characterized by a primary market open to authorized participants (mainly institutional investors) for the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"in-kindà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ creation and redemption of ETF shares in lots directly from the fund, and a secondary market open to all investors, where ETF shares can be traded on real time basis, with no limitation on order size. Since an ETF is negotiated on two markets, it has two prices: the Net Asset Value (NAV) of the shares on the basis of which creation and redemption takes place in the primary market and the price in the secondary market which depends on the supply and demand for ETF shares on the exchange. If buying or selling pressure is high, these two prices may deviate from one another. However, the possibility of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"in-kindà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ creation and redemption facilitates an arbitrage mechanism which ensures that such departures are not too large. For example, if ETF shares begin to trade at a price below the NAV (i.e. at discount), arbitragers may purchase ETF shares in secondary market and after accumulating enough shares to equal a creation unit, redeem the shares from the fund and thereby acquire the underlying securities in the index, which the arbitrager may then liquidate at a profit. A similar and reverse process may apply in case of ETF trading at a premium. An effectiv e execution of this arbitrage mechanism would thus enable the ETFs to trade at prices equal to or very close to their NAVs, thereby eliminating the problem of significant premiums or discounts often associated with closed-end mutual funds. These innovative financial products were first introduced on the U.S. and Canadian exchanges in the early 90s. Officially, the Standard and Poorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Depository Receipts (SPDRs) is considered to be the first ETF which was created in 1993 in order to replicate the performance of SP 500 Index. In the first several years, ETFs represented a small fraction of the assets under management in index funds. However the launching of an ETF named cubes (or QQQ) in 1999 which follows the return of NASDAQ 100 Index was accompanied by a spectacular growth in trading volume, making ETFs the most actively traded equity securities on the U.S. stock exchanges. While ETFs were gaining popularity in the U.S, European stock exchanges started listing their first ETFs in 2000. Following the same trend as the one observed in the U.S., exchanges began by quoting broad-based national and regional equity index ETFs. They then quickly diversified the benchmarks to a variety of underlying indices. This included ETFs based on Euro zone or European indices, emerging country indices, style (socially responsible, growth, value, small caps, mid caps, etc.) or sectors indices. Besides these equity-based ETFs, sponsors launched fixed-income ETFs, ETFs based on precious metals and lastly, on commodities. Similar growth was experienced by ETFs in other global markets as well, including the Asia Pacific and Latin American markets which started listing these instruments in the early 2000s. The popularity of these innovative structures around the globe can be gauged from the fact that at the end of March 2012, there were over 3,169 ETFs, with 6,795 listings, having assets of $1,536.7 billion, managed by 157 providers around the globe[2]. II RATIONALE OF THE STUDY A large number of performance evaluation studies have been undertaken for actively managed funds (Elton et al. 1993, Malkiel 1995, Gruber 1996, Elton et al 1996, Carhart 1997). However, despite the significant growth in the value of assets under ETFs across the globe, empirical research evaluating the performance of this passively managed fund is quite limited. Moreover, these studies have concentrated on the U.S markets, with only a few of them focusing on the European, Australian or Asian markets. Also, these researches done on various countries have at times used different methodologies for assessing the ETF performance and no empirical study has yet compared the ETF performance across countries using uniform performance criterion. The limited evidence on the performance of ETFs internationally, and the absence of empirical research comparing such performance across countries provides the rationale and motivation for the present study. This study will contribute to the literature by providing analysis of the performance and trading characteristics of ETFs tracking popular market indices across the globe and providing a comparison between them based on uniform performance criterion. The work will be of direct usefulness to the investors in these markets, as it would help in assessing the extent to which ETFs deliver on their promise of exactly tracking the index. From the perspective of market makers, this work will help in assessing the pricing efficiency of ETFs in these markets, which would possibly indicate the presence or absence of profitable arbitrage opportunities in these markets. Also, a comparison of ETFs across the globe can provide useful indications to the regulators and policy makers of these markets regarding the competitiveness of their products and the areas of strength and weaknesses so as to plan for any corrective policy actions in respect of their markets, if required. III OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The first objective of the study is to empirically examine the performance of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) across the globe. To examine the performance of ETFs, the study analyses them in terms of their risks and returns, replication strategy, tracking ability and performance effectiveness. The second objective of the study is to provide a comparison of performance of ETFs across various countries. Finally, the third major area that this study addresses to is the examination and comparison of pricing efficiency of ETFs across the globe, i.e. whether significant premiums or discounts exist in these ETF markets, and whether they persist over a number of days, which could present profitable arbitrage opportunities to the market makers. IV RESEARCH HYPOTHESES The study attempts to test the following broad hypotheses concerning the performance and pricing efficiency of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) across the globe. The specific null and alternate hypotheses are formulated in Chapter IV- Data and Research Methodology. ETFs are able to perfectly track the daily and weekly returns of their underlying indices and experience insignificant tracking errors. ETFs are effective in replicating the returns of their underlying indices, and do not experience significant net under-performance or out-performance over half yearly intervals. All ETFs across the globe experience similar tracking errors (if any), and are equally effective in their performance. ETF markets around the world are efficient in terms of pricing, i.e. no significant premium or discount (more than 1%) exists on any given day. The premium or discount in the ETF markets (if any), disappears within a day and does not persist for long. V RESEARCH METHODOLOGY As mentioned earlier, the focus of the present study is to examine and compare the performance and trading characteristics of ETFs across the globe. This section provides a brief overview of the research methodology adopted to examine each of these issues and the data used in the study. Performance of ETFs Conventionally, the performance of mutual funds has been evaluated using three classical performance measures, namely, Sharpe ratio (1966), Treynor ratio (1965) and Jensenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s alpha (1968). However, since the underlying investment objective of passively managed ETF is different from those of actively managed mutual fund[3], these traditional performance valuation methods are not considered appropriate for analyzing the performance of ETFs. The performance of an ETF is analyzed in terms of whether it has been able to achieve its investment objective of tracking or replicating the returns of its underlying benchmark index. In order to compare the returns of ETFs with those of their underlying indices, the present study uses the methodology adopted by Frino and Gallagher (2002), Gallagher and Segara (2004) and Rompotis (2006c). In particular, it uses the following performance measures, each of which analyses a different aspect of ETF performance. Risk and Return Analysis: As a first approximation of ETF performance, the study compares the average daily and weekly risks and returns of ETFs with those of their underlying indices over half-yearly intervals. Similar risk and return characteristics of ETF and its underlying index indicates a satisfactory performance of the ETF. Regression Analysis: The study uses the well known market model by regressing the returns of the ETF portfolio on the returns of the underlying market index. The beta estimate of this regression is used as an indicator of the portfolio replication strategy adopted by the ETF manager. A beta equal to unity reflects a full replication strategy, which implies that the fund invests in all the components of the underlying index in the same weightage as represented by the index. Tracking Error Estimation: An important criterion for assessing a passive fund managerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s performance is through an estimation of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"tracking errorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, which quantifies the difference in returns of the fund and its underlying index. Following the methodology adopted by Frino and Gallagher (2002), the study uses three different measures of tracking error. These are: the average of the absolute difference in returns between the fund and the index, the standard deviation of the return difference between the fund and the index, and the standard error of the regression of fund returns on underlying index returns. Performance Effectiveness: The study then measures the performance effectiveness (or bias), i.e. the net under-performance or out-performance of ETFs over a period of time, using the following two measures: the average of the arithmetic difference in returns between the fund and the index, and the alpha coefficient of regression of fund returns on underlying index returns. Cross-Country Comparison of Performance of ETFs The study attempts to make a cross-country comparison and provide relative ranking of countries in terms of their ETF performance using three of the performance measures, namely, replication strategy, tracking ability and performance effectiveness. Trading Characteristics of ETFs In order to analyze the trading characteristics of ETFs, the study firstly tests their pricing efficiency, i.e. whether they experience significant premiums or discounts during any given day, and how much time does it take for such premium/discount (if any) to disappear. Towards this purpose the study quantifies the daily deviations between ETFà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s trading price and NAV (Net Asset Value) in monetary as well as percentage terms, and reports their frequency distribution. The persistence of such deviations is then examined using a regression model. The study also provides a trading profile of ETFs to analyze other trading characteristics of ETFs, such as their average trading turnover. Data and Period of Study ETFs were first introduced in the U.S markets in 1993, however they picked up pace only after 1999. Since then ETFs have continued to grow and have proliferated across global financial markets both in terms of their number and assets under management. By the end of first quarter 2012, there were over 3,169 ETFs, with assets worth $1,536.7 billion, managed by 157 providers around the globe. (ETF Landscape, Q1 2012) Since the present study aims at analyzing the ETFs across the globe, and the study of the whole universe of ETFs is not viable, there is a need to select a representative sample for the purpose of our study. Our study therefore analyses all the domestic ETFs that track the popular indices of five dominant countries namely U.S., U.K., Japan, Australia and India. These indices are the broad-based equity indices which represent the performance of the respective markets. In all we study 11 popular indices and 17 ETFs that track such indices. The time period under study extends from January 1993- March 2012. Each selected ETF has been analyzed over a time period beginning from the first full financial year of its trading till the end of the period under study. The study uses daily as well as weekly data in respect of closing prices and NAVs of ETFs as well as the closing values of the underlying indices. VI ORGANISATION OF THE STUDY The study is organized into eight chapters including the present one. Chapter II provides a conceptual framework of ETFs by describing its nature, trading mechanism, benefits and costs as well as its history, growth and development. Chapter III reviews major research studies concerning the performance and trading characteristics of ETFs and provides a framework for the present study. The data used and the details about the methodology adopted in this study are provided in chapter IV. Chapter V, VI and VII are devoted to the empirical findings of the study whereby Chapter V discusses the performance of ETFs, Chapter VI provides a cross-country comparison of ETF performance and Chapter VII discusses the trading characteristics of ETFs under study. Finally, chapter VIII presents the summary, conclusions as well as the implications of the study. [1] For a review on the closed-end fund puzzle, see Dimson and Minio-Kozerski (1999) [2] ETF Landscape Industry Highlights Q1 2012 from Blackrock [3] An actively managed mutual fund aims at beating the market by providing superior return than the market indices, whereas, a passively managed index fund or ETF aims at replicating the returns of the underlying market index by joining the market, instead of attempting to beat it.