Impact Of Economic Recession on Wet Bulk Shipping

Impact Of Economic Recession on Wet Bulk Shipping Abstract Global economic integration and the world economy is closely linked with the world shipping market, 2009 world economic recession caused a negative impact on the economy of each countries, the shipping industry has been seriously affected. This article assesses the economic recession affecting the wet bulk shipping sector from four parts. Key words: economic recession; freight rates; wet bulk shipping; excess capacity. The Impact of the Economic Recession on Wet Bulk Shipping Introduction Shipping is a global industry, which is the lifeline of the world economy. The global bulk shipping markets consist of two main sectors dry bulk and wet bulk (Stopford, 2003). The carrier of wet bulk is tanker. It can transport oil or oil-based products liquid petroleum gas (LPG), vegetable oil etc., liquid chemicals or liquid natural gas (LNG) (House, 2007). However, crude oil carried in Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) is the biggest wet bulk shipping market. The world financial crisis has brought a great impact to the international economy, which created the economic recession deeply and widely in 2009, especially in transport sector (European Commission, 2009). The crisis has triggered a slowdown in global economic growth that is manifesting itself in a demand-driven fall in international trade exacerbated by the deficit of credit and trade finance; falling commodity prices; declining remittances; contracting foreign direct investment (FDI); and the potential of declining offi cial development assistance (ODA) (UNCTAD secretariat, 2009a). This has given rise to the most significant challenges for wet bulk shipping (tanker) that involved volume, freight rates, operational productivity and job cuts. Effects on Tanker Freight Rates Transport market usually makes a direct reflection to a downturn in demand. The price of chartering tanker ships indicates the demand-supply balance for different wet bulk. The demand of tanker can be measured in tonne-miles. Table 1 describes the tonne-mile demand of most tanker sectors. There is a downward trend which dropped nearly 1.6% in 1H09 comparing with 1H08 (TANKEROperator, 2009a). The reason was that the demand of crude oil declined since last year. Different indices can present different market, i.e. The Baltic Exchange Dirty Tanker Index (BDTI) represents the crude oil market, which in major trading routes includes VLCC, Suezmax, Aframax and Panamaxes. Moreover, the Baltic Exchange Clean Tanker Index (BCTI) makes up of clean Panamax, Handymax and Handysize tankers (TANKEROperator, 2009b). Table 2 illustrates that comparing with the same period of 2008, freight rates of tanker vessels in the middle of 2009 were down. The deppening ecomomic crisis cause oil demand decline. BDTI shows an upward trend, which fell from 849 points in January 2009 to 482 in June 2009. It nearly fell half. BCTI also showed an downward trend, from highs of 623 in January 2009 to lows of 479 in June 2009 (UNCTAD secretariat, 2009a). Table 3 shows average freight rates, which is a unified measure for establishing spot rates. The areas of the table indicated including Persian Gulf, West Africa, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, Singapore, East Asia, South Africa, North-West Europe and the East Coast of Norh America. Comparing feight indices of tanker market between the first half of 2008 and 2009, it can be seen that the freight rates on all routes declined. Though the feight rates in some routes in June of 2009 had a little increased than previous months, but overall trend was downward. Among them, there was a dramatic declines in freight rates for VLCC and ultra-large crude carrir (ULCC). The routes which they serviced were the Persian Gulf to Easern Asiam Europe, the Americas and South Africa. Table 3 clearly shows that the freight rates for VLCCs in April and May of 2009 on the Persian Gulf to Japan and the Persian Gulf to Republic of Korea routes decreased by nearly 50 percentage, from WS51 to WS27 and WS53 t o WS27 separately. The reason can be attributed to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members cutting the oil production thus, the volume of cargo which transport from Persian Gulf to other areas was reduced (UNCTAD secretariat, 2009a). In addition, LNG shipping reached in record-low freight rates in the spot and short-term LNG trades in spring 2009. The LNG industry has been closely tied to gas demand in Japan and Korea, because the two Asian nations account for nearly one-half of the global trade in LNG (Corkhill, 2009a). The Arab countries exports to Japan and Korea went down in July 2009 by 4.7% or 88 thousand tons to 1.801 million tons a share of 27.5% of total Japanese and Korean LNG imports (OAPEC, 2009). Effects on Voulme OPEC which provides about 40% of the worlds oil supply try to stabilise oil prices therefore, it decided to recuce daily production from 4.2m barrels per day to 24.9m bpd (Calderas-Mendez, 2010). Tanker shipping has been dealt with the delayed impact of declining demand. This cutting supply decision caused decline in the amount of oil carried by VLCCs (Calderas-Mendez, 2010). From the international oil market situation in recent years, the oil supply disruption is not happened, the oil market focus mainly on oil prices. In the downturn, table 4 shows that there was a large demand declines from the fourth quarter of 2008 to the second quarter of 2009, whcih attributs to the developed countries economics, particularly the United State (economic crisis). The demand of oil decline, the freight rates decline. Therefore, OPEC carried out a series of production cuts to support prices in order to faced with the demand weakness (International Monetary Fund, 2009). Effects on Operational Productivity Decline in demand for shipping, plus the financial crisis led to banks tightening credit on shipping finance, many shipping companies have been cancelled shipbuilding orders and have a wave of defaults began to appear. According to UNCTAD secretariat (2009) analysis, the share of liquefied gas carriers (of LNG and LPG) has stood at 10.8 per cent on 1st April 2009. As the volume of cargo per carrying capacity and freight rates decreased, the productivity in terms of tons carried per deadweight ton (dwt) of oil tankers were seriously surplus. There was 4.0 per cent of the world tanker fleet overcapacity in April 2009 (UNCTAD secretariat, 2009b). The market always showing that when cargoes fall away and the demand for ships drops. The fundamental reason for the decline in average productivity in recent years is the oversupply of tonnage available, which contrasts with the reduced growth in world seaborne trade (UNCTAD secretariat, 2009a). Although taking longer time, some of the shippin g companies chose routes that cost less. Some ships are being laid off to reduce the tons carried per dwt because of the reduced seaborne trade. Figure 1 shows the productivity of the world fleet has a significantly decline in 2009 and the values between 27,000 and 28,000 ton-miles (UNCTAD secretariat, 2009a). In addition, after some shipping companies and shipping agencies re-scheduled cargo routes, due to the pressure of freight rate, which is not enough to make up the cost, lay off ships was thought more cost-effective way. Effects on Job Cuts Affected by the depressed market, the ship owner started a large number of labour layoffs. Inevitably, some shipping companies wanted to cut additional cost; therefore, they closed overseas offices in the rescue plans in the current depressed market. During this hard time, shipping industry faced up to the challenges of over-tonnage, ship owner try to streamline their fleets in order to ease the increasing cost and manpower burdens. In addition, another reason for job cuts was the rising price of crude oil, other raw materials which had driven up the costs of ship maintenance, repairs and bunkers (Corkhill, 2009b). Conclusion With the process of global economic integration, international trade becomes a chain of countries in the world market, while the shipping industry as the main carrier of world trade that has become an important part of the economy. Every time of the fluctuations in the global economy will obviously reflect in the shipping market. In the global context of economic slowdown, both of the volume of trade and demand has a decline in different degrees, and at the same time it leads to the consumer and investor lack of confidence, which has brought great impact on the shipping industry. There hasnt been a major bankruptcy in the shipping market, which is an economic miracle in 2009 economic recession (BIMCO, 2009). The growth of the total carrying capacity greatly exceeded the growth of the economy and shipments, thus capacity has become surplus. When supply exceeds demand, the freight rates under the pressure or even have declined, the profit of shipping company dealt a heavy blow in the hard time. Since the outbreak of the financial crisis, the credit system has been practiced in a crisis, some banks refused to provide credit guarantees, which leads traders to pay shipping difficulties. Additionally, the operation of the shipping industry to make matters worse.

Cigarette Oligopoly

Cigarette Oligopoly Market Chayleen Marquis Benedictine University Author Note This research is being submitted on May 2, 2010, for Professor Raymond Bell’s MBA 611 course at Benedictine University by Chayleen Marquis. The cigarette market is one that is known to everyone. From magazine advertisements to constructive commercials people have been exposed to this market starting at a young age. The constant visuals of the advertisements as well as the free advertising that occurs daily with people smoking outside their office, in their car, and outside the night life scene the cigarette market has a benefit of using the free advertising as a benefit to their company at no cost. The cigarette market is a clear example of an oligopoly market because it is mostly run by a few large firms such as Philip Morris USA, Commonwealth Inc, Lorillard Inc and Reynolds American Inc. Due to the fact that an oligopoly market is hard to not only come into but also basically controlled by these large firms any new competitor is going to have a difficult time entering this market, being profitable in comparison to these firms and really having any type of say in the price or the output. A benefit of being an oligopoly is the fact that the prices are not determined for them but the larger firms more or less make the prices in reflection of the coordination amongst each other. Essentially the large firms come together and decide what price they would like to see and then all of the cigarettes cost the same amount across the board. Of course one concern that oligopoly’s must make sure that they are not be involved with is price fixing. Price fixing is when the competitors of a market fix the product price to avoid competition within their market, while at the same time not being fair to the consumers of the product in regards to the price. The price fixing does not always happen between the competitors but it also can be a factor between manufacturers and distributors. So as an oligopoly the firms must ensure that the price fixing is not occurring at any levels of their production. Most people look at an oligopoly market and think that they act as a monopoly because the main firms completely control the market. However in an oligopoly the main firms each have a distinguished product brand that sets them apart from their competitor even f it is in the smallest difference. These brands allow each firm to stake claim on consumers in a memorable way to keep consumers coming back for more. In reference to the cigarette oligopoly most consumers have smoke Marlboro’s from the beginning of their smoking career and have never strayed from the product that they know. In an oligopoly market if one firm drops their prices another firm is more likely to drop their prices as well to not only stay competitive but to also retai n their market share. However if a firm were to increase their prices the other competing firm will not like raise their prices obviously to try and maintain as well as try to increase their market share. Price increasing is not something that occurs often in an oligopoly market which in turn makes the market inelastic in regards to price change. The use of the game theory is commonly used in oligopoly markets such as the cigarette industry. Making moves in the market without fully knowing how your competitors are going to respond and knowing that if one move that is made can definitely benefit all firms is a tough task to attempt. Making a decision that could help out the companies is not always going to be perceived by the other companies and can back fire on the company who makes the initial decision which in turn would leave them more than likely with a net loss. In the cigarette oligopoly market I see promotion as a game theory used between the competing firms. Many different events are held and it seems that the cigarette firms are there to give away free samples of their new products, free t-shirts and of course creating a bond with the consumer which makes them stay a loyal customer and even gets some consumers to switch products. An example would be from Camel cigarettes to Marlboro cigarettes. As mentioned before advertisement is something that drives the cigarette oligopoly. With the promotions being such a market to get more and more people daily to advertise freely for the company cigarette firms use every opportunity to do so. Primarily during these promotion periods the cigarette companies will use the foot traffic to do the free advertising for them. This is an extremely smart move because in reality who does not want a free t-shirt. The competing firms do not know when competition is always having a promotion such as the ones mentioned above and could see a decrease in sales during a competitor’s promotion or even right after one. Another example of the game theory used in the cigarette oligopoly market is when purchasing a regular firm product giving out a free ull size sample of a new product to get consumers to try it, which then leads to the consumer not having to purchase their product for a longer period of time. In the cigarette industry I believe that profit has been maximized. There are not a lot of changes that can keep occurring in this industry that can great greater profits than the ones occurring right now. There is only so much change that the cigarette market can endure and change that I believe the market has no new product line to go to. The cigarette market is such an intricate market with a product that has been sold the same way for years and year’s people don’t want it to change. The only profit the cigarette industry is going to see is when prices rise slowly due to inflation. Other than taxes being enforced by states and the federal government the price for a pack of cigarettes is not going to change drastically by any firm in caution of losing its market share. The competition in the cigarette market is beneficial to the consumers because of the promotions they provide with all of the free merchandise. Unlike other oligopolies the cigarette market is not elastic so price changes that would occur in other oligopoly markets that affect the consumer don’t not occur in the cigarette market. Competition in other oligopoly markets can directly negatively affect the consumer but because the cigarette market is a market that change rarely happens, prices are the same regardless the brand the competition is a benefit. In conclusion the cigarette market oligopoly market is a pretty stable very profitable market that has proven to stand the test of time, anti-smokers protests and even recessions. This market has a proven track record and has no intent to go anywhere. With the ability to use consumers for free advertising this market has saved money in the marketing department which usually helps fight law suits but still keeps its consumers coming back for more each week. The amount for a pack of cigarettes today is between four and five dollars and for the amount of smokers that casually smoke to the addicted smokers who go through a pack a day the cigarette market is not going anywhere and profits they are seeing are simply astounding. References Thomas, C. R. , & Maurice, S. C. (2008). Managerial Economics (9th ed. ). New York, NY : McGraw-Hill Irwin. Market Information-Philip Morris USA. (n. d. ). Retrieved April 26, 2010, from http://www. pmusa. com/ed/ cms/Company/Market_Information/default. aspx

The Main Difference Between Manager and Entrepreneur

Introduction Up to now the role of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture in economic and social development has been diluted. Nevertheless, over the years it has become obvious that entrepreneurship has grown in importance and that it indeed contributes to economic well being. Converting ideas into successful economic opportunities is the main essence of entrepreneurship. If we cast an eye over the past, the economic momentum has been substantially advanced by pragmatic individuals who are creative and innovative, able to utilize opportunities and willing to take risks. Whatever the definition of entrepreneurship, it is associated with creativity, literacy, innovation and change that are in turn vital for competitiveness in the wake†¦show more content†¦Particularly, in one of his hypothesises, he says that education will be positively associated with entrepreneurial intentions. Whereas in another one he says that subjects with a parent who is an entrepreneur will have higher entrepreneurial intentions than those whose parents are not entrepreneurs. Again these hypothesises have an implication that an assumption - ‘‘entrepreneurs are born, not made’’ - is misleading. Bandura (1975) in his book ‘‘Social Theory’’ states that personal and environmental influences are interdependent. For example, professors do not influence students unless they attend their classes or books do not affect people unless they read them, and punishing effects remain inactive unless activated by conditional perform ances. In the same manner, personal determinants are only potentialities that do not act as influences until they are activated. Individuals who can communicate knowledgeably about particular issues can have an impact on others if they speak but not remain silent, regardless of whether they possess the means to do so. Therefore, according to Bandura ‘behaviour partly determines which of the many potential environmental influences will come into play and what forms they will take; environmental influences, in turn, partly determine which behavioural repertoires are developed and activated’. Similarly, one’s entrepreneurial skills or abilities remain rudimentary unless, he or she acquires appropriate knowledge. In regard ofShow MoreRelatedThe Concept Of An Entrepreneurship1345 Words   |  6 Pagesto create and operate new businesses and an entrepreneur as a person with positive, forward-thinking desire to create profitable, sustainable business enterprise. According to this definition, a small business owner could definitely be classed as an entrepreneur, as anyone who runs and owns their own business is taking risks with their finances every day of trading. 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Does Social Networking Effect Our Society Negatively

Caitlin Larson Dr. Roloff Welch ENG-103- 24 July 2014 Research Paper- Draft #1 Does Social Networking Effect Our Society Negatively? How many of you use some kind of social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest? According to Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project states that â€Å"95% of all teens ages 12-17 are now online† and â€Å"81% of online teens use some kind of social media.† Social networking sites have grown tremendously since the past. Social networking sites allow individuals to create a private, semi-private, or public profile where they are able to connect with people. Social networking sites allow many people of different groups, such as age, race, religions, and locations to†¦show more content†¦With the amount of usage of social networking sites among our teenagers, this has raised a flag with academic procrastination. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, procrastination is â€Å" to be slow or late about doing something that should be done: to delay doing somethi ng until later time because you do not want to do it, because you are lazy, etc.† Therefore, most of us can see it as a dedicated non-academic activity that results in the delay of completing an academic task. This shows that students are spending more of their time on nonacademic related activities instead of meeting the requirements for their academics. For instance, a problem of teenagers’ academic performance that is affected by social networking is the quality of their academic writing. Most teenagers may think that technology and the use of social networking sites does not negatively influence their writing, but little do they know it does. According to Writing, Technology, and Teens, Pew Internet American Life Project, â€Å"nearly two-thirds of teens (64%) say they incorporate some informal styles from their text-based communications into their writing at school.† For example, we may see phrases in papers such as LOL (which stands for laugh out loud), BT W (which stands for by the way), and even IDK ( which stands for I don t know). This could be a major reason why teenagers are being more reliant on the computer

Mass Media Is An Integral Part Of Everyday Life - 989 Words

Mass media is an integral part of everyday life. Society depends on the various forms of media for information, education, and personal entertainment. Mass media positively and negatively influences beliefs, values, and expands knowledge to bring awareness to various social events. Media also impacts the way children and adolescences understanding of violence, racism, suicide, aggression, and sexual stereotyping. If viewing these portrayals is accepted, then mass media does in fact negatively impact child and adolescent development because of the content displayed on movies, television, and music. Children and adolescents learn to accept and have distorted views of violence, racism, sexual stereotyping, sexual behavior and suicide represented on TV. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2015), children ages 8-18 spend an average of 7.5 hours a day with media and technology screens. Today, television shows and movies can be viewed on numerous devi ces. Children today will spend 27,375 hours viewing media which is more time than they will spend in a classroom setting in high school. Media entertainment is persuasive and has a strong influence on today’s children. The American Academy of Pediatrics has a policy statement that concludes, â€Å"Exposure to violence in media, including TV, movies, music and video games, represents a significant risk to the health of children and adolescents† (American Academy of Psychiatry, 2012). Today, theShow MoreRelatedThe Impact Of Mass Media On Youth And Society1378 Words   |  6 PagesThe Impact of Mass Media on the Youth and Society Nowadays, the issue of mass media has caused much debate in the modern society, as well as mass media is becoming more important as a component that negatively affects the behavior of young people. 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Sexual Harassment Free Essays

Sexual harassment refers to any sexual conduct or advance to a person whether a man or a woman that is unwelcome. This form of harassment creates an offensive, hostile and intimidating working environment. It is a wide spread problem which in most cases has the effect of causing low morale among the workers especially those that are frequently sexually harassed. We will write a custom essay sample on Sexual Harassment or any similar topic only for you Order Now It leads to low productivity and thus low output for unions and employers and also introduces an expense to the management in terms of the law suits filed by the workers who have been sexually harassed. Therefore less sexual harassment will lead to increased productivity at the work place and in addition reduce the legal costs incurred as a result of the cases that have been filed by the sexually harassed workers (Roberts, Mann, n. d. ). Effects of sexual harassment at work place Sexual harassment creates a hostile working environment for the workers and especially the ones facing sexual harassment. For any worker to be productive, academic achievements and experience alone are not enough to ensure optimal productivity. The working environment for the worker is a very important factor maximum productivity among the workers. The workers who are frequently harassed either sexually or through any other form of harassment usually have a negative attitude towards their work in the organization and in fact hate the organization they are working for and will in most cases remain in such organizations simply because they cannot secure another job with another company, otherwise they will quit their work in the organization from which they are being sexually harassed at the earliest opportunity. Sexually harassed workers cannot be as productive as their counter parts in other companies that are not facing such harassment. Thus it is very important for the management of every company to ensure that all their workers are well protected from any form of harassment and especially sexual harassment, as this will result in increased productivity (Sims, Drasgow, 2002). In Malaysia a study was performed and it indicated that increased cases of sexual harassment were actually leading to low productivity in various organizations. The ministry of human resources despite advocating for training of the effects of sexual harassment at the work place also made a lot of efforts in preventing sexual harassment by changing attitudes among the workers and the management. The ministry started a continuous program which combined demonstration, theory, coaching and proactive actions which had a lot of impact in reducing sexual harassment and as a result increased productivity was realized in the country (Roberts, Mann, n. d. ). Sexually harassed workers will in most cases, are emotionally affected by the intimidating and unwelcome sexual conduct and advance on them, by those perpetrating the vice. Workers who are psychologically disturbed will obviously be less productive as compared to those ones who are emotionally stable. Studies have shown that persons who have faced sexual harassment for extended periods of time are likely to suffer similar psychological effects as those experienced by victims of rape. Such people will always feel disturbed both at work place and outside their work places. They therefore, perform poorly in their work as they are more likely to concentrate more on the harassment and its effects instead of their assignments (Sims, Drasgow, 2002). Low morale might be realized from the sexually harassed workers as they are not motivated to perform well. Such workers will in most cases just work mechanically to only meet the requirements of the management. They are less creative and innovative in their work since they do not see the sense of improving their work in work places they do not enjoy working in. sexually harassed workers with low morale will produce less as compared to those who are working in conducive environments in which they are likely to enjoy their work and thus produce more as well as be more innovative and creative, thus ensuring that their organizations remain competitive (Roberts, Mann, n.d. ). Sexually harassed workers usually have increased absenteeism from their work places in an attempt of avoiding the harassment. They will fail to attend work as a result of stress and illnesses arising out of the harassment. Thus there is loss of work days and thus the levels of production drop significantly as cases of sexual harassment increases (Sims, Drasgow, 2002). Strategic advantages of affirmative action programs to organizations When affirmative action programs are well employed in recruiting workers to join an organization, it will ensure that only those who are well qualified for various positions will be hired by the organization and thus the company is better placed to be productive. The principle for affirmative action when hiring employees should be purely based on merit, ability and qualifications. It should as much as possible try to be independent of national origin, race, or sex of the workers and thus such should not be the basis of hiring or promoting workers (Karsten, 2006). Affirmative action ensures that only the best qualified in terms of qualification, experience and ability are chosen to occupy certain positions. This will help the organization to survive in the long run as such people are more likely to be more innovative and creative and thus ensure that the company remains or becomes more competitive (Kivel, 1995). Employing people on merit also answers the question of equality and thus the company is more likely to improve its image to the society who comprise of their customers and thus the company might realize increased sales. When the people feel that a certain company is discriminating them in terms of denying them equal employment opportunity, such people are likely to shy away from consuming products and services that are provided by the company. Such people also have the propensity of talking ill about the company, this will destroy the reputation of the company and will lead to decreased sales revenue which might eventually lead to its collapse if it continues with the vice of discrimination and thus companies should come up with affirmative action programs which will ensure that discrimination is avoided at all cost in the organization (Karsten, 2006). Affirmative actions greatly affect the effectiveness of organizations, this is because the most effective and efficient employees are engaged at various levels of production. Without an affirmative action workers may be hired or promoted due to other reasons other than merit. This would significantly affect the overall effectiveness of the organization as less qualified workers might be engaged to perform certain tasks which could have been performed better by other more qualified personnel had merit been used as a basis of engaging such employees (Kivel, 1995). Lack of a proper affirmative action might also significantly affect the share prices of an organization, since it will be less attractive to the investors who originate from back grounds that the company is fond of discriminating. This will in the long run affect the capital base of the company and might eventually make it to face serious financial crisis, thus hindering its effective operations (Karsten, 2006). Conclusion Sexual harassment is a vice that should not be tolerated at any cost in an organization as it will lower the levels of productivity among the workers. Thus the company will face increased costs of operations since it will be remunerating its workers for less production. The sexually harassed workers will be working in an environment that is hostile for them and thus they will have low morale to work effectively. An affirmative action program in an organization is very important as it sets out the rules and regulations to be followed. When used appropriately an affirmative action will ensure that a firm remains competitive and thus its future is guaranteed to some extent. How to cite Sexual Harassment, Papers

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Questions: What Specific Advantages Of Social Networking Have Been Seen To Be Most Suited For The Business Concerns? How Concerning Are The Drawbacks Of Social Networking For Business Entities? How The Delivery Of Social Networking Services Has Influenced The Choice Of Networking Services Platform? What Is The Future Scope Of Social Networking For Business Concerns? Answers: Introduction Social media has been identified as one of the most effective platforms to generate data for the customer in real time. In general the increasing interest of the people for the social media has been seen to be evident with more than 600 million Tweets, 95 million of photo and video has been seen to be uploaded on Instagram. Some of the main advantages of social media have been identified with the use of social listening and the use of relevant information on the customers (Thornton, Henneberg and Naud 2015). The main aspects of the report has been able to focus on the significant advantages on the use of cloud computing. The main section of the study has been further able to associate the review of the existing literature, project objective and scope of the project based on the formulation of the hypothesis. Furthermore, the research has been able to consider the methodology and design of the research to analyse data. The last section of the study will be able to enumerate on the time constraints and resource limitation for the research plan. Project Objective The main aspects of the research will be able to highlight on the negative and positive aspects of social networking in business. The objectives of the research are stated as follows: To discern the advantages of social networking in a business To assess the significant advantages of social networking in a business To consider the future scope of social networking in a business entity. To ascertain the drawback of social networking for the individuals. Project Scope The important scope of the study has been constrained to the study of social networking and the various types of the related concepts along with it. The main scope of the study has been further able discern about the various types of the consideration which has been seen to be taken based on the drawbacks and the advantages of Social networking in a business. Literature Review The important consideration of the literature review for the study has been discussed with the different social media platforms along with ascertaining the drawbacks and the benefits of social networking in business. The increasing nature of the public for the use of social media networks has been seen with individuals responding to the business needs which have been seen to be used in the social platforms. The main form of the marketing needs to be taken into account based on the considerations of social media which has been seen to be published in every platform. The various types of the choice of the social media platforms will be able to interact with the needs of the customers and be able to familiarize with the audience. Some of the most popular social media platforms has been discussed below as follows: Facebook is identified as one of the biggest platform in terms of recognizing name and the total users. In 13 years since the launch of Facebook, the company has seen to grow from simple website for connecting friends, colleagues and relatives and transform to a multifaceted web and mobile social platform, in which the users are able to stay in touch with celebrities, business and organization through the features of Facebook pages (Zamudio, Anokhin and Kellermanns 2014). By the consideration of the application as a wealth option, Facebook has been identified as the starting point for the business not considering the industry. Facebook has been seen to be ideal for sharing video, photo and seen to be important for maintaining the social network. Whether the post is seen to be made daily or weekly, Facebook has been considered to be ideal for business requirements (Bharadwaj et al. 2013). Facebook has been often identified with several criticisms which are related to the privacy and security of the information. In various cases Facebook has been identified with several drawbacks for fake accounts (Halinen, Trnroos and Elo 2013). Twitter The most prominent feature of Twitter has been identified with short text updates of 140 characters. This has been seen to be ranging from the various types of the information which has been seen to be evident in from the use of the media such as polls, images, videos and links which has been seen with consideration of the business. This platform has been further seen to be conducive for interacting with the users in the posts. Twitter has been further seen to be a great way to quickly connects with the people all over the globe (Qu et al. 2013). This particular social media platform has been seen with a total average of 328 million active users all around the globe from the top ten websites in United States. Due to the wide reach the platform which can be not only considered as a wide way to reach the audience but also identified as an effective channel for customer handling process. For instance, in case an active user database for handling of the customer service. The advertising in twitter has been further seen to be evident with promoted tweets; promoted accounts, promoted trends and Twitter amplify. The mobile app feature has been also seen to be conducive for the promotion of the business content (Wang et al. 2014). Instagram Instagram has been considered as the social media platform which is completely linked with the use of photo and video posts. The network of Instagram owned by Facebook has been further seen to use more than 700 million users with the various types of the travel, art, fashion and similar nature of the subjects (Zolper, Beimborn and Weitzel 2014). Instagram has been seen to be more suited to the artistic niches and may not be suitable for the business needs based on the industry. Despite of the individuals running the account the detail has been placed with the use of basic photography and posting of short videos for the business needs. The most prominent feature to market the business idea in Instagram has been observed with the use of Hashtags (Boso, Story and Cadogan 2013). The most prominent platform for the video sharing tools has been seen as video sharing platform. Several businesses over YouTube have been seen with a visual, creative or the educational component (Roh 2016). The platform has been further seen to be tailored for making product reviews which is done by various experts on a particular category. The subculture of Vloggers has been often considered to maintain large audience. Very often it has been further seen that the users have been able to engage with the large group of audience (Tata and Prasad 2015). The hypotheses considered for the study are discussed below as follows: Research design process The main approach of the research will be followed with the use of a deductive approach and this is seen to be relied on the specific tests of hypothesis. Social Networking is further seen to be an existing theory and henceforth the use of deductive approach has been seen to be most appropriate in nature. The next approach in the research process has been seen with the application of quantitative approach. The primary data analysis approach will be based on the use of graphs and methods of statistics. The secondary analysis will involve the thematic approach (Rajasekar and Philominathan 2013). Data collection The data collection will be based on the use of both secondary and primary data. The primary data collection shall be done with survey. The survey will be based on the questions which will be sent to the employees and managers who are seen to rely on social networking constraints for business needs. The secondary research for the data will be based on the use of scholarly articles on Google scholar, website journals which has been able to state on the benefits and drawbacks of social networking (Rajasekar and Philominathan 2013). Sampling and sample size The consideration of the sample size will involve a total of 200 respondents. Among this, 150 respondents relying on the service of social networking are considered as employees of business enterprises and 50 respondents will be holding managerial posts. Simple random sampling has been seen to be the main technique for sampling of the respondents. This will be able to ensure that the responses from the employees and managers will be unbiased and relevant (Ranjit 2014). Questionnaire design The questionnaire will be designed on the use of Cardinal, nominal, ordinal and ratio measurements. The consideration of the general questions will be identified based on nominal measurements. The ordinal scale measurements has been identified with measures like 5 - strongly agree, 4- moderately agreeing, option 3 - giving a neutral opinion, option for 2 -disagreeing and option 1 - completely disagreeing. Data analysis Process The analysis of the data has been discerned with the measures of dispersion and descriptive statistics. The regression test in the study will be able to prove whether the hypothesis set for the study needs to be accepted or rejected. The main form of the data analysis will be seen with the use of the tools such as bar charts and pie charts. Reliability and validity of the data The important aspects of the validity and reliability of the data will be done considering only those respondents who are directly related to rely on the services of social networking. The reliability aspect will be further maintained with an unbiased opinion of the survey population. Research Limitations The limited sample size of 200 survey respondents has been identified as the main limitation of the research. Although there are multiple facets of services offered by the social networking sites, the research will highlight only on those aspects which has been positively contributed to the business and drawbacks of the same. The use of the statistics methods has been further seen with the use of regression analysis, descriptive statistics and use of mjeasures of dispersion. Time Schedule The research work has been intended to be completed in a total time span of six months. The scheduling of the activities are shown below as follows: Activities/ Period Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 4 Month 5 6 Research idea Formulation Proceeding with Research methodology Beginning of Data collection procedure Formulating Data analysis Publication process Conclusion The study will be able to consider the important aspects which will be able to depict the advantage and drawback of use social network in business firms. The research has been further able to consider the various aspects which have been most frequently used in social networking services. The consideration of the main participants for the research has been further seen to range from employees and managers. The various types of the other respondents have been further seen with the designing of the questionnaire for the study. It has been further seen that the hypothesis for the study has further seen to be related to the literature review of the study. The total time span of six months has been considered for scheduling of the activities for the research work. References Bharadwaj, A., El Sawy, O. a., Pavlou, P. a. and Venkatraman, N. (2013) Digital Business Strategy: Toward a Next Generation of Insights, MIS Quarterly, 37(2), pp. 471482. doi: 10.1.1.216.1018. Boso, N., Story, V. M. and Cadogan, J. W. (2013) Entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, network ties, and performance: Study of entrepreneurial firms in a developing economy, Journal of Business Venturing, 28(6), pp. 708727. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2013.04.001. Halinen, A., Trnroos, J.-. and Elo, M. (2013) Network process analysis: An event-based approach to study business network dynamics, Industrial Marketing Management, 42(8), pp. 12131222. doi: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2013.05.001. Qu, Z., Wang, Y., Wang, S. and Zhang, Y. (2013) Implications of online social activities for e-tailers TM business performance, European Journal of Marketing, 47(8), pp. 11901212. doi: 10.1108/03090561311324282. Rajasekar, S. and Philominathan, P. (2013) Research methodology, Research methodology, pp. 153. Ranjit, K. (2014) Research methodology a step-by-step guide for beginners., Sage. doi: 10.1177/1362361315580442. Roh, T. H. (2016) The Sharing Economy: Business Cases of Social Enterprises Using Collaborative Networks, in Procedia Computer Science, pp. 502511. doi: 10.1016/j.procs.2016.07.129. Tata, J. and Prasad, S. (2015) Immigrant family businesses: social capital, network benefits and business performance, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior Research, 21(6), pp. 842866. doi: 10.1108/02656710210415703. Thornton, S. C., Henneberg, S. C. and Naud, P. (2015) An empirical investigation of network-oriented behaviors in business-to-business markets, Industrial Marketing Management, 49, pp. 167180. doi: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.05.013. Wang, L., Liu, S., Pan, L., Wu, L. and Meng, X. (2014) Enterprise relationship network: Build foundation for social business, in Proceedings - 2014 IEEE International Congress on Big Data, BigData Congress 2014, pp. 347354. doi: 10.1109/BigData.Congress.2014.57. Zamudio, C., Anokhin, S. and Kellermanns, F. W. (2014) Network analysis: A concise review and suggestions for family business research, Journal of Family Business Strategy, 5(1), pp. 6371. doi: 10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.01.001. Zolper, K., Beimborn, D. and Weitzel, T. (2014) The effect of social network structures at the business/IT interface on IT application change effectiveness, Journal of Information Technology, 29(2), pp. 148169. doi: 10.1057/jit.2014.6