2011年5月21日土曜日

Today`s words : Cross-Holding (今日の言葉:持合い)

 Actually I got this word yesterday when I attended one of the lectures taken. I got new word which is Cross - Holding. What in the world is that? Based on investopedia.com Cross - Holding means:

`When listed corporations own securities issued by other listed corporations.`


`In terms of indexes, cross holdings can create a form of double-counting. For example, if both companies are included in the same index, the value of the holding in one company is reflected in the share price of the other.`
 
Based on the the survey conducted by Prof. Hu Dan, it is being known that in Japan the trend of change in cross holding during 1991 - 2006 is declining both in value base or number base. The rate of cross - holding use is the rate of cross - holding of listed companies (including banks) stocks to the total market stocks. What does this phenomenon implies, actually I haven`t got full of understanding on it. Still try to figure it out >.<

持合いというのはm-wordsによると:
協力関係にある企業間で互いに株式を相互保有すること。短期的な企業の業績や株価ではなく、長期的に株を保有する安定株主としての機能を果たしてきた。さらに企業間の取引を安定させ、敵対的買収な どから企業を防衛することができるため、企業の安定的成長に役立つとされた。ドイツや日本で特有に見られるもので、日本では戦後の財閥解体後、1980年 代まで株式持合いの比率は高まり続けた。1990年代に入り、外部からの不透明性や非効率性を指摘され始め、いわゆる「持ち株解消」の動きが活発になっ た。特に、時価会計の導入や不良債権処理のため金融機関による持ち株比率の低下が顕著になり、大量に株が手放された。これは、2000年以降の株価低下の一因とされている。しかし、近年その買収防衛策効果から「株式持ち合い」が再度注目を集めており、持ち合い株の割合が増える傾向にある。以前は金融機関がその中心を担っていたが、現在の株式持ち合いでは事業会社同士で行われる場合が多い。ハイブリット車用の電池開発などで提携をしているトヨタと松下が2007年6月に株式持合いを強化することを発表したことはその一例である。
なお、複数の会社での株式持合いを「三角持ち合い」あるいは「循環的相互保有」と呼ぶ。

大学の先生によって、日本で持ち合いは1991から2006まで減少傾向であり、使われた持合いレートは全株価市場に対する上場企業(銀行も入っていた)レートである。そのさべーいの意味がまだ分かっていないんです、すみません!>。<

2011年5月20日金曜日

Simple Presentation Structure

My Gosh! Presentation is here and there, they are everywhere! Anyway, it`s common thing for anyone especially students. cuz we have an idea and in order to make it known by other, we have to present that. Believe it or not, 2 weeks ago Professor Weeks told me that Karaoke is a kind of Presentation too! He made a concept of Presentation Karaoke which aims how to enable people to do the presentation in relax and the more important thing is to enjoy it. Can you imagine, presentation karaoke! Such an interesting topic!

Actually I prefer to share different topic each time I post something here, but due to how presentation becomes a daily routine nowadays, I love to share what I learned in class. I need to refresh mine too :D So lets begin!



Picture is courtesy of click here
There are 4 keys of making presentation :
1. What
2. Who
3. Why
4. Where

Ok, lets check it one by one :

1. What
Think about these two things :
a. What do I want from them?
b. What do they want for me?

When we are preparing the content of our preparation, we have to make sure that we will give the right shot. Make sure the expectation from our presentation before doing that is not a bad idea.

2. Who
Think about our target audience, not just an audience but as a target audience is the people whom we hope will listen to our presentation. Things that being considered we should know is :
a. Where are they from?
b. What do they know?
c. What words they know?

We have to consider the condition of the audiences. Although our research is so sophisticated, but if the audiences do not come from the same field, it won`t work. The core of presentation is to communicate, use the words that will be understood by your target audiences.

3. Why
People are sleeping at the lecture or meeting room? The audience`s fault? Or maybe the presenter just don`t give the audience a reason to listen.
Why is the idea or the research is important? What is new? Considering these two things well and maybe we will need less coffee and reduce the caffeine usage ;p
Give the audience a hook, to make they stay listening to us. For example, a shocking phenomenon, surprising statistical number which make they want know more about it.


4. Where
Prof Weeks told me that basically human is a kind of creature that hate to wait or to guess in a blank. So give our audience a map such as an outline or the point of discussion, where we are going to as a predictor.

Such a simple keys ryte? That is the point of the presentation, KISS which stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid! This is the favorite rule of my lecturer, just keep it simple bcuz people  can not receive many things in a short time, simpler is better and maybe give deeper impact.

Example of presentation script :
1. Introduction
2. Background
3. My main idea is X (Thesis Statement, check on it on my previous post here)
4. I am going to say A, B, C etc (predictor)
5. Body :
Lets talk about A
Lets talk about B
Lets talk about C
6. Conclusion
7. My main idea has been X (Repeat your thesis statement)
8. I have talked about A, B, C (Repeat your keywords)
9. So..... (Final Comment)

Of course you can modify it, but the example above is a good start esp. for beginner (like me :D)


Study Case :
In addition, when I was working in a company,  I often being asked to prepare presentation for my supervisor. From 20 slides I prepared for him, he deleted more than 10 of it. He told me something really important : ‘Never present something that all people already knew, it is just a waste`

And it is proven in one of my class this week, when someone presented a topic by just copying from the textbook. One of my classmate told him that he wasted his time listening to him considering he has very tight schedule. It was a bit harsh to say it directly in front of other people but I think he is right, to give our best is one of the way to respect the audience for their willingness to listen for us.


Last but not least
Thanks God we have the dearest Ms. Power Point! But Prof. Weeks, told me that recently people depends on it too much. Many of us feel so hopeless when we have to present something without the aid of this century`s amazing invention. Our own voice, our gesture, our way of thinking is much much much more important than couple of powerpoint slides. Lets take our confidence and the show must go on!^^

2011年5月8日日曜日

Writing an Essay : Simple Basic Rules

Hello! Finally I finished my 1st edition! I should increase my eagerness cuz it took very long time to start writing, although I have promised myself to keep sharing all the-I-think-it'd be-useful-things. (>.<!) 

Ok, we're gonna talk about writing an essay. It's a very basic and common thing  but unfortunately I didn't aware of this simple basic rules. So, I'm joining a lecture called "Presentation A" , one of the lecturesin Mei-Writing Academic Writing Project. Click here for further information on it.

The lecturer (Prof.Weeks) conduct the class very very well. The participants are limited only to 20 graduate students. We're separated into pairs, and different pairs each time, so we'll have chance to know all of the participants in the end. The lecture is very interactive and I really enjoy the atmosphere itself. Always looking forward for the next meeting!

So, so, 1st  I'd like to share about the basic structure of an essay, at least it should have :

1. Introductory Paragraph
    This is where we put our Thesis Statement (The MOST IMPORTANT sentence and lighthouse for the entire of our essay)

2 Body Paragraphs 
   It's the further explanation of the introductory paragraphs. Watch the clear logical step and it must be linked up with our thesis statement in order to be easily understood. The format is like a small part of the essay itself : topic sentence, body, concluding sentence (deductive writing style)

3. Concluding Paragraphs 
This is our chance to restate the thesis and summarize the points of our essay. Keep it simple and clear.

Below is the example of a well-structured essay given by Prof.Weeks :

Alien Visitors (Expository Essay)
(Introductory Paragraphs)

Recently, extraterrestrial (ET) visitors are being seen on Earth, especially in Japan; they are aliens from the planet Qwertyiuop. Although these aliens seem quite harmless and are certainly not predators, some Earthlings are worried about their presence here. In order for us to live peacefully with them, we need to understand why they left their home planet and what made them choose Earth as a new habitat. ( the italic underlined  statement is the thesis statement, the most important! the body paragraphs below must support this sentence!)

(Body Paragraphs)

Research into Qwertopians is making it clear there are two main reasons why they decided to leave their beloved planet. Firstly, since it so close to the sun, Qwertyuiop is extremely hot all time; it is never cooler than 4800 degrees Centigrade. This heat makes the Qwertopians very sleepy. Secondly, because Qwertyuiop is a tiny planet very near the sun, the night is very short (about 40 minutes), and this makes it difficult for them to rest properly. In short, Qwertopians are tired from the heat but can't get a good night's sleep, so they have been looking for a new habitat.

The reason that Earth, in particular, has been chosen as a new home by some Qwertopians relates to their eating habits. It is well known that they eat only bananas and chocolate. We also know that the growing of both bananas and cacao to be grown almost anywhere and anytime. This will make our planet ideally suited to the Qwertopian diet. 

(Concluding Paragraph)
in conclusion, the arrival of Qwertopians on Earth is not suprising. The problems of too much heat and light on Qwertyuiop, along with the promise of a perfect climate for food production on Earth, are unmistakable factors. In other words, they have very good reasons for leaving their home planet and equally good reasons for taking up residence here with us on Earth.

For me, essay above is easy to be understood cuz it stays to be clear and in logical steps. Yeap, I agree that it's pretty interesting too :D I understand now, some years ago, I submit a research proposal to compete for scholarship or scientific award, but I failed ='< Maybe b'cuz I didn't aware of this simple basic rules. So, ready to write your essay? ^^

                                  (Picture is courtesy of recruit specialist)