Arth 1380 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Arth 1380 - Assignment Example Despite using marble in their compositions, people of this period also introduced bronze and used it frequently, thus that age was known as Bronze Age. The reclining female figure found in Menil collection is carved in marble with less obvious facial features except prominent nose that is the only visible portion in the face. The shape of face is oval which is connected to neck with a slender torso depicting two round shapes showing breasts of a female. The female figure is made in nude form with breasts and sexual organ shown; the only features that consider the figure as feminine. However, the figure has a slightly slender waist that is also indicative of a female figure. The female figure is shown with arms folded below breasts in a manner as if both of the arms are tightly enclosed around the body. The shoulders are angular and the legs are shown closely connected with each other and giving an illusion of being separated, however they had been carved in a same marble. The feet are carved in an upward style which gives an impression that the figure might have been of a lying human as it seems difficult to keep the figure stand w ithout support. (McGill, 1987) The formal analysis of the reclining female figure has been done here by highlighting the color, form and shape, space, line and texture of the piece. Firstly, the color of the statue is dull with cool color and the value of color is light with not bright intensity. The color of the figure seems to be close to grayish brown with dull outlook giving the impression of seriousness. As the color used is not a warm color such as red, orange or yellow, the figure cannot be considered an indicative of a delightful occasion. The figure incorporates certain hue stains all over which suggest use of paint on marble to give it a colorful look. It conveys the message of seriousness and the impression created on the minds of viewers

Project 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Project 2 - Essay Example Yourprops was working needs to be informed of the search for them to make the necessary arrangement and final approval. Documentation of the permission is critical since it will help inform the subjects about the authority (Vacca, 2005). The documentation should be done in a manner that is transparent in term of the needed elements such as the date and signatories. There should be no cases of impersonation. The documented authority should be genuine and just. The reason for these virtues on the document is to facilitate a smooth search process void of suspicions. This case scenario will provide the requisite material evidence that can be trusted in the process of investigation. From the photo of Mr. Yourprops, the primary items that are attributed to the digital evidence include the thumb drive USB, the western digital hard disk, and a voice recorder. These items are used for storage of digital information and it implies that the investigation process will rely on the content in these items. Forensic investigation of digital information is a complex process; however, with the presence of the listed items, the requisite information will be retrieved. In the case of the USB, the information continued in it might be of that extracted from either the laptop or the disk. In essence, the USB acts as a secondary storage. There is a possibility that the information that is needed is in the disk and deleted from the primary storage, which is the laptop or the thumb disk. In the event that the files that are in the USB are not found in either of the primary sources, it will imply that, the information had been deleted. The fact that the information will be missing i n the primary source and found in the secondary source, it will provide a lead in the investigation process. The process of collecting the items needs to be procedural in the

Barriers to Entrepreneurship Development in Tajikistan

Barriers to Entrepreneurship Development in Tajikistan Introduction The development of the entrepreneurship as an essential component of the economy of Tajikistan is taking place for the past 19 years, in spite of its certain downturn during the civil war in the country in 1991-1997. Within the given period, the legal framework for the regulation of business activities was developed and amendments to the particular conditions of the governmental policy related to the entrepreneurship support were made. The stage of the entrepreneurship establishment required the improvement of its sectoral structure and enhancement of the economic efficiency. It is obvious that the prospects of its development are directly related to the alleviation of particular barriers which business people currently encounter. At the same time the inception of economical growth should initiate the positive influence on the entrepreneurship promotion. The essay will exclusively focus on the analysis of entrepreneurship establishment and development in Tajikistan with the reference to SME sector including the importance of entrepreneurship for the socio-economic development. In addition, the essay will describe main barriers to entrepreneurship development and possible ways to alleviate the difficulties related to its promotion. The rationale for the decision to write about this specific issue is based on following particular reasons: there are very few research works describing problems of entrepreneurship development in Tajikistan. Although, some scholars described these issues in the former Soviet Union countries, in most of their works Tajikistan is only slightly mentioned among the other countries. The objective of this given paper is to define the entrepreneurship situation in Tajikistan, the importance of its development as well as to identify the difficulties for entrepreneurship development and to provide recommendation for the solution of the existing problems. In order to reach the stated objective, the following research questions were raised. First of all it is important to understand, what are the main barriers to entrepreneurship development in Tajikistan? Secondly, what are the possible ways to promote entrepreneurship development? The theoretical and empirical grounds for the given paper are the analytical works of Tajik and foreign scholars, statistical data, as well as surveys and reports of various international institutions. Due to the analysis of both foreign and Tajik experts assessments the reader will be enabled to find the dual opinion on the described issue. Chapter One The role and importance of entrepreneurship in Tajikistan 1.1 Tajikistan at a glance: background information In order to explain the entrepreneurship situation in Tajikistan, it is worth to describe the background information about the country. Being a landlocked country, Tajikistan is located far from the main Eurasian highways. Infrastructure is poorly developed due to the fact that 93% of the all territory is mountains. In fact there are a number of scientific works describing the linkages between the infrastructure and the country development, including development of the entrepreneurship. However, in the framework of present essay the impact of poor infrastructure to the entrepreneurship development will not be discussed. During 1929 1991 Tajikistan was a member of the Soviet Union. After the breakdown of the Soviet Union in 1991, the country gained independence and started the transition to the market economy. After gaining its independence, the country was immediately faced with the economic problems caused by the collapse of the centrally-planned Soviet economy: such as, disruption of guaranteed markets, withdrawal of subsidies and instability of exchange (Middleton, 2007). Due to these facts, economical as well as political transformations of Tajikistan were difficult, primarily due to the holdover of various centrally planned command and control approaches to the national development (Suhir, 2003). According to Johnes, Tajikistan can be considered as the poorest of the countries of the former Soviet Union. At the beginning of its independence the position of the country was undermined by a civil war which lasted from 1991 until 1997. During that time the economy suffered significantly. In addition, the war has seriously disrupted the entire infrastructure of the country and contributed to the emigration of almost one million people, this number was equaled to a sixth of the total population. After the end of the civil war, the government undertook an aggressive program of reforms. As a consequence, by the beginning of 2000, the majority of small sized enterprises had been privatized, and most of the large enterprises were transformed into joint stock companies. Moreover, almost half of all cropland belonged to private people. In addition, being a neighbor of Afghanistan, the country has fallen victim of the drug trade and has been directly affected by drug-related criminal infi ltration (Johnes, 2002). Despite its growth, Tajik economy is not still fully recovered from the effects of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the civil war. The gross domestic product in 2007 was still only 72% of the 1991 level in real terms, which is visually represented in the Chart 1. Chart 1: Real GDP continues to recover but has not reached the level of 1991 Source: Business Environment in Tajikistan as seen by Small and Medium Enterprises, IFC, 2009 1.2 Definition and types of entrepreneurship in Tajikistan The process of society democratization and the implementation of market relations which are taking places in Tajikistan nowadays caused a variety of positive effects. Entrepreneurship which influences all economical spheres can be considered as such effect. In developed countries the role and the importance of entrepreneurship are being evaluated quite high. Our country, which has chosen the path of market economy, is considering the issues of entrepreneurship and strengthening of its role as a matter of paramount importance (Rahmon, 2001, own translation). According to the State program of Protection and support of entrepreneurship in the Republic of Tajikistan for the years 2002-2005, entrepreneurship is described as an activity which independently carried out by the persons registered in an order established by the law; this activity is directed to the earning of profit from use of property, sale of goods, manufacture, performance of works and rendering of services. Entrepreneurship development is one of the priority directions of financial and economic policy in the conditions of market economy and it is directed on increase in production and rendering of services as well as provision of new workplaces (Soliev, 2004). It is quite possible that the reason of such simplified definition of entrepreneurship was to motivate as much as possible people to become entrepreneurs. Tajik scholar Juraboev described entrepreneurship as a search for new spheres of rationalization and a profitable investment of recourses, performance of new combinations in manufacture, movement to the new markets, and creation of new products. It is aimed at making a profit above the average level (Juraboev, 2003, own translation). The tendency of entrepreneurship development in Tajikistan started from the period of 1993 1994. At that time the quantity of enterprises which performed entrepreneurial activity and had a status of legal entity was equaled to 3304 enterprises for the year of 1993 and 3988 enterprises in 1994 (Statistical yearbook , 2006). The entrepreneurship area was dominated by the cooperatives, farmers, private and individual enterprises. However, the crisis in the economy caused by the severance of economic relations between the former Soviet Union countries which had common free market zone before, and the post-war factors with corresponding decrease of nation welfare became the reasons of reduction in the quantity of private enterprises, especially SMEs. Nevertheless, in later years the entrepreneurship in Tajikistan, which for the purposes of this essay is described by the SME sector, started to recover from the consequences of Soviet Union breakup The obvious development of SME sector can be proved by the available data that shows that in October 2006 the amount of small and medium enterprises in Tajikistan was equaled to 12167, including 7578 active enterprises. The structure of the SME sector can be described as follows: the highest amount of 38.4 % is commercial enterprises, the share of trade and catering 17.2%, construction 13.3 %, industry 12.3%. The part of other economic activities is equals to 20% (Nazarov, 2006). In addition to the information provided above it is important to identify the SME sector in Tajikistan. In compliance with the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan ÂÂ «On State Protection and Support of Entrepreneurship in the Republic of TajikistanÂÂ » passed in 2005, the SME sector is composed of three typologies of businesses. The first group is individual entrepreneurs, who is involved in a business activity without forming a legal entity and operate it at their own risk. The second group is dehkah farms enterprises involved in the production and sale of agricultural products. Dehkan farmers operate as individual entrepreneurs according to the State Registration Certificate. Third group includes small and medium sized companies (Law On State Protection and Support of Entrepreneurship, 2005, own translation). Moreover, the special SMEs criteria are also being significant. As consistent with the Tax Code of Tajikistan, small enterprises are individual entrepreneurs and legal entities which perform business activity and their gross revenue (before taxes) is not exceed 150 000 USD. The average quantity of employees should not exceed 50 for agricultural sector and 30 for other sectors. Respectively, medium enterprises are individual entrepreneurs and legal entities whose gross revenue is more than 150 000 USD but does not exceed 3.7 million USD. The average quantity of employees can vary from 50 to 200 for agricultural sector and from 30 to 100 for other sectors (Tax Code, 2009, own translation). In fact the Micro-enterprises are not defined in the Tax Code. 1.3 The importance of the entrepreneurship in the socio-economic development of the country Nowadays private enterprises are functioning almost in all fields and spheres of the economy of Tajikistan. With the presence of necessary support, the entrepreneurship plays an important role: it contributes to the state budget, creates new employment and stimulates the social and economic development of the regions. Furthermore, entrepreneurs play a significant role in the social and political life of society. According to the statistics, in the year of 2007 approximately 1.7% or 19 thousand people of all population working in the private sector belonged to the SMEs. Over the last years, the quantity of employees of small and medium enterprises has increased by 14.5%, while the amount of enterprises has risen by 35%. However, the most interesting fact is that the total quantity of employees in the SME sector in 2007 was lower compare to the 1998 (Statistical Yearbook, 2008). Visually this information is presented in the Chart 2. Chart 2: Dynamics of the quantity of employees in SMEs (in thousands) Source: Tajikistan: 15 Years of Independence. Statistical yearbook, Dushanbe, 2006 It can be assumed that the relatively low quantity of employees in the SME sector is resulted from the tax burden of the employers. In fact, the amount of social tax which the employers have to pay equals to 25% out of the total payroll fund. Moreover, in contrast to the other countries, the existing taxation system in Tajikistan does not have the tax remissions in connection with the increase of the quantity of workers (Nazarov, 2006). Furthermore, the role of entrepreneurship in the market economy is very significant in terms of solving a number of socio-economic problems as well as in the poverty alleviation. Small and medium enterprises create the most favorable opportunities for the entrepreneurship especially at its initial stage. The presence of the substantial amount of SMEs on the market promotes the competition. And by promoting the competition, small and medium enterprises stimulate the increase of production efficiency as well as production growth which in its turn may cause the real growth of the economy. As a short summary of the given section about the importance of entrepreneurship in general and SMEs in particular, it can be stated that it is both the aim and the tool for the development of market economy. The dual role of entrepreneurship is confirmed by the analysis of the functions of SMEs which were classified into two groups. These groups are objective functions and tool functions. The objective functions promote the development of small and medium entrepreneurship and being considered as one of the governmental tasks. These functions include the impact on the unemployment reduction, the acceleration of the technological progress by means of innovations and ensuring the social and political stability in the society. According to the tool functions, small and medium entrepreneurship is being used in order to limit the tendencies of monopolized economy, to support formation of a middle class and to fill the particular market niches which are not attractive for the large enterpr ises (Chapek, 2004. own translation). 1.4 Characteristics of entrepreneurship development in Tajikistan The establishment of entrepreneurship in Tajikistan started at the time when the legislative foundations were absent. The Law On entrepreneurship activity was passed only in December 1991 and up to day it has completely changed. This law had a lot of disadvantages which negatively affected the process of entrepreneurship establishment in the country. Other economic laws which could support and secure the entrepreneurial activity in Tajikistan were passed later. For instance, The law on property (1996), The law on privatization of state property (1997) as well as laws related to taxation, customs and currency circulation (Nazarov, 2006). The formation of the entrepreneurship took place at the period of destabilization of finances and significant level of unemployment, which were caused by the collapse of the centralized control system. Another unique feature of entrepreneurship formation and development in Tajikistan is the limitation of strategic behavior. There are two reasons explaining it. First of all, during the first years of the market economy establishment, the formation of entrepreneurship was influenced by the substantial advantages of short-term transactions in the sphere of circulation and in the financial market. This circumstance created an appropriate attitude, stereotypes of thinking and behaving. Secondly, there is a significant gap between the profitability of long-term investments in manufacture and short-term financial transactions. The conditions for the implementation of long-term investments projects in the production sphere are such that invested funds will be paid off only in 3-5 years; howe ver, in conditions of the transition economy this process may take even longer. Therefore such areas of entrepreneurship as trade and catering remain the most attractive for the entrepreneurs (Soliev, 2004). According to the statistics, at the beginning of 2008 there were 55,8 thousands of enterprises registered in Tajikistan; in fact, 60% of them are private enterprises including both SMEs and large enterprises (Statistical Yearbook, 2008). There is a trend toward positive increase of total amount of enterprises in general as well as private enterprises in particular, as it is demonstrated in the Chart 3. Chart 3: Dynamics of total amount of enterprises, including private enterprises (in thousands) Source: Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, 2008 The dynamic development of SME sector is caused by several specific advantages of the latter. According to the Kamarov, the most important fact is that SMEs are able to get their own market share, although they have much less funds for implementation of important strategic researches compare to large enterprises. In addition, small and medium businesses are quite flexible and mobile, which allow them to react fast for the market demand as well as to adapt for the changing conditions. Small entrepreneurship can be characterized as an originative type of economic behavior which at the same time being described as special entrepreneurial spirit and creative action (Kamarov, 2009). Another important fact is that on every 1000 of economically active population in Tajikistan there is in average only one SME; in contrast, in Russia there are 3 enterprises on every 1000 of economically active population (Davgyalo, 2007). Chapter Two Barriers to entrepreneurship development 2.1 General overview of difficulties related to the entrepreneurship development in Tajikistan As it is demonstrated by the world experience, the more opportunities for the widening of the activity by the entrepreneurs, the higher growth rate can be seen for the country. Under the given circumstances, the creation of the favorable conditions for the entrepreneurship development is a crucial factor. The entrepreneurship of Tajikistan faces particular barriers, among the others they are: instability and imperfection of the legislative system related to entrepreneurship, high level of taxes, complexity of tax collection, insufficiency of the start-up capital and current capital, difficulties with the access to bank loans, corruption, shortage of the qualified staff, difficulties with the rent of the production space as and others. In most cases there is no proper social and personal security for owners and employees of the private enterprises (Soliev, 2004). The current institutional mechanism of entrepreneurship promotion demonstrates that although the entrepreneur is secured by the laws and governmental instruments, the level of entrepreneurship development is not correspond to the high taxation level and crediting rates. (Asrorov et al., 2004). Therefore the entrepreneurs are acting in the environment of legal and economical limitation. The barriers faced by entrepreneurs impede the inflow of billions of dollars of potential profit for the country each year and threaten to derail the political and economic transition. These losses take place due to the ill-designed, complicated laws and regulations that unnecessarily raise the cost of doing business in the formal sector. As a result of high costs of doing business, entrepreneurs are using in their operations limited funds in order to survive with presence of low income and consequently they are losing the economic potential. In addition, the costly business regulations encourage potential investors to invest in the more favorable business environments and therefore country faces the lack of the needed investments (Suhir, 2003). The experience of entrepreneurship establishment and development in Tajikistan demonstrates that the majority of business owners are not aimed at the further growth. Their main goal is to ensure the stable existence, to preserve their capital and market position (Urdashev, 2005). The given situation can be explained by two reasons. First of all, there is no effective system for the stimulation of entrepreneurial activity. Secondly, entrepreneurs are experiencing the certain pressure from the tax, custom and law-enforcement authorities. 2.2 Main barriers faced by entrepreneurship in Tajikistan In this section of the paper the main barriers to the entrepreneurship development will be described in details. These barriers are: difficulties related to licensing, access to finance, imperfection of taxation system, poor infrastructure, corruption and lack of sufficient knowledge by entrepreneurs. Licensing IFC defined license as a special permit issued by a state body authorizing a business to carry out a certain activity under specific terms and conditions. When a business is subject to licensing requirements, it must obtain the specific license before starting its activities. Thus licensing happens after business registration, but before a company is allowed to start operations in the activity to be licensed (IFC, 2009). The barriers related to the licensing can be classified as the continuation of the Soviet system of permissions whereby one must obtain approval from the authorities in order to perform even the smallest tasks. The present permissive entrepreneurial climate which characterized by abundant regulation, continues to inflict losses on entrepreneurial activity in all sectors of the economy (Suhir, 2003). According to the world practice, the low-risk activities and those which do not involve any limited resources should not be subject to licensing. In fact, Tajikistan licenses some activities that are not licensed in many other countries; for instance, real estate valuation and tourism (IFC, 2009). The Chart 4 illustrates that in spite of the recent reforms, the number of activities licensed in Tajikistan is still relatively high compare to some other countries. Chart 4 Number of economic activities subject to licensing in selected countries Source: Business Environment in Tajikistan as seen by Small and Medium Enterprises, IFC, 2009 For instance, IFC reports that eight of the 65 licensed economic activities are related to the transport. However, the implementing regulations of the Licensing Laws divide these eight economic activities into 22 sub-activities, each of that in its turn requires a separate license. In addition, the period of validity of licenses as well as their cost still remains a problem. The law foresees that the minimum period of validity for the license is 3 years; however, on practice the licenses are being issued for the period which in average is less than one year (IFC, 2009). The short periods of licenses validity impede the investments and long-term development as well as create the grounds for the extortion by the officials. Access to finance One of the main conditions of the entrepreneurship development is the existence of proper financial infrastructure. In general the Tajik financial system was growing rapidly over the past years, although it still remains small. Recent data shows, that there are twelve commercial banks (including one state-owned bank), seven credit societies, one non-bank financial institution and eighty eight microfinance institutions operating in Tajikistan (IFC, 2009). The banking systems in Central Asia in general and in Tajikistan in particular can be considered as insufficient since they impose impossible demands on entrepreneurs due to the unreasonable time-frames and terms of credit repayments, it is difficult to provide collateral and to find a guarantor for securing a loan (Suhir, 2003). Thus in order to get a loan from some commercial banks the entrepreneur should provide the collateral which values up to 3 times more compare to the actual amount of requested loan. The survey performed by the IFC demonstrates that more than half of rejected loan applications in 2007 were due to the insufficient loan collateral (IFC, 2009). In addition, the process to formalization and registration of the collateral is complicated and expensive at the present time. Besides that, the loans themselves became not very attractive because of the interest rate. Additional factor of distrust to the banking area is the lack of reliable mechanism for the protection of the borrowers interests. In this respect the majority of entrepreneurs actually not able to use services of commercial banks. The Chart 5 demonstrates what kind of problems entrepreneurs encounter in terms of access to the finance. And it is quite clear that the most important issue is high interest rates. Chart 5: Main obstacles as identified by the potential borrowers (in %) Source: Business Environment in Tajikistan as seen by Small and Medium Enterprises, IFC, 2009 In general, in compliance with the Doing business report, Tajikistan is ranked as 167th overall in terms of easiness to getting credit (World Bank, 2010). And firms consistently rate access to credit as among the greatest barriers to their operation and growth. Taxation system The modern tendency for the entrepreneurship development can be described as the one with the lack of unity of economic aims between entrepreneurship and government. On the one hand, the governmental regulations related to the entrepreneurial activity are grounded on the creation of the favorable conditions for the entrepreneurship development; however, on the other hand, they are directed on provision the maximum tax revenues to the state budget. At present there are 18 different taxes in Tajikistan. According to the statistics, forty-eight percent of countrys tax revenues in 2008 came from the value-added tax. Tax code states that the value-added tax is equal to 18%, income tax 30% and social tax 25% (Tax Code, 2009). Such level of taxation does not correspond with the taxation systems used in developed countries. As a rule, developed countries increase tax rates in order to restrain the overproduction (Davgyalo, 2007). In fact there is no problem of overproduction in Tajikistan. On the whole the tax regime in Tajikistan is characterized by high complexity and instability. The Tajik Tax Code, which went into effect in 2004, has been amended 9 times since that time. Unfortunately given amendments neither caused the simplification of tax obligations nor improved tax administration. The World Bank Groups Doing Business 2009 report demonstrates evidence that taxes impose a heavy burden on business taxpayers in the country. This report ranks Tajikistan as 159th out of 181 countries in terms of ease of complying with the tax obligations (World Bank, 2009). Besides, the procedure of preparation the tax forms is complicated, the average Dehkan farmer or individual entrepreneur has spent almost 5 working days on the filing and on payment of taxes in 2007. While the average SME spent more than three weeks on this process. Moreover, there is a lack of effective communication infrastructure for the acceptance of the tax reports by mail. Although the Tax Code states that it is possible for taxpayers to submit their tax declarations in three ways: by certified mail, in person, or electronically; in practice, entrepreneurs submit tax reports in person. In addition, the survey performed by IFC shows that that submission of tax declarations involves a significant period of time spent waiting in lines at the tax office in order to get the appropriate signatures (IFC, 2009). Corruption The harmful nature of corruption between government and business enterprises is a classic conflict of the political economy, which goes back to Adam Smiths The Wealth of Nations. In the socialist period, bribery was widely practiced as a sort of necessary evil among citizens in Soviet Union Countries. It operated as a special social mechanism used to overcome obstacles established by bureaucratic systems as well as chronic shortages of supply which could affect business operations and everyday activities. In contrast, in the transition period, the corruption between entrepreneurs and bureaucrats started to take place more for self-interest rather than as a socially necessary evil like it was in Soviet Union time (Ichiro Iwasaki, 2007). Interesting explanation of the existence of corruption was provided by Clark and Naito in their article. According to them, corruption is endemic in all countries of Central Asia. However, the additional factor which contributes to the level of corruption results from the existing barriers with respect to the cooperation between various Ministries. In fact, nowadays the level of cooperation is relatively small and as a consequence there is a shortage of transparency in the system. The lack of transparency in its turn allows corruption to flourish as there are no checks and bounds on the system (Clark, Naito, 1998). The number of surveys performed by the World Bank confirms the fact that corruption remains a main constraint for entrepreneurship in Tajikistan. This demonstrated by the high frequency of informal gifts requested from enterprises by the government officials, so called Graft Index. The Graft Index shows the proportion of instances in which enterprises were either requested or expected to pay an informal payment for licenses, permits or public services (IFC, 2009). Visually the situation with corruption in Tajikistan in comparison with some other countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia is presented at the Chart 6. Chart 6: Tajikistan has the highest graft index in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) ECA Regional Average Source: Business Environment in Tajikistan as seen by Small and Medium Enterprises, IFC, 2009 However, the survey performed by IFC in 2007 demonstrates that the situation related to the informal payments in Tajikistan has improved over the last years. According to the survey responses, entrepreneurs were asked for or expected to pay bribes or give informal gifts in 2007 fewer compare to previous years. Although this is a positive development, it is too early to conclude that corruption is no longer a problem. Data demonstrate that 21% of enterprises have defined the informal payments as a main obstacle for their business activity. In fact, only high tax rates were defined as a major obstacle more often than corruption (IFC, 2009). Lack of the sufficient knowledge by entrepreneurs Johnes stated that the main resource which is available to Tajikistan is its people. Generally the level of education in the country is high, with a literacy rate about 98% (Johnes, 2002). However, one of the obstacles which may be additionally observed in Tajikistan nowadays is the lack of the sufficient knowledge in the area of entrepreneurship. This fact can be explained by taking a look at the history. In the Soviet era entrepreneurship was considered as a speculation. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia defines speculation as a process of buying up the goods on closed markets and resale those goods on open and deficiency markets in conditions of constraining the freedom of trade, for example, during the war (Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1978, own translation). This activity was punishable either by high fines or imprisonment and due to this reason was considered as a part of the shadow economy. Based on the above mentioned information, the following conclusion can be drawn the entrepreneurship as an activity as well as entrepreneurs are still being considered as unacceptable or even discreditable activity by the people of older generation. It is obvious that problems related to managerial issues are really crucial for the private entrepreneur due to the reason that the manager should be a specialist with a broad knowledge in the area of management, finance, accounting and marketing. In fact, nowadays the universities of the country are not preparing such versatile managers for the private sector (Urdashev, 2005). The current situation in Tajikistan is such that the majority of entrepreneurs have problems due to the lack of proper knowledge. Thus according to the IFC survey, more than one-third of individual entrepreneurs did not keep any financial or tax records in 2007 (IFC, 2009), despite the existing requirements. The responses presented in the Chart 7 demonstrate the reasons for the absence of necessary records. It is clear that the lack of knowledge is a very significant issue in this respect. Chart 7: Reasons f

President Woodrow Wilson Essay -- Biography Biographies Woodrow Wilson

President Woodrow Wilson Woodrow Wilson was the first Southerner to be elected president after the Civil War. Born on December 28, 1856 in Staunton, Va., he was the son of a Presbyterian minister who supported the Confederates. Wilson assumed the presidency after a whirlwind career as a college professor, university president and New Jersey governor. However, Wilson left the Oval Office just as heartbroken as the Confederate soldiers that returned home when he was a boy. Woodrow Wilson was born as Thomas Woodrow Wilson – the son of Janet Woodrow and Joseph Ruggles Wilson, a Presbyterian minister. Thomas began using the first name of Woodrow in 1881 to honor his mother’s side of the family. Although Wilson would become a talented writer and esteemed professor, he did not learn to read until he was 9-years-old and was a backward child. He was more interested in daydreaming than studying. He was admitted to Columbia’s First Presbyterian Church in 1873 – the same year he entered Davidson College in North Carolina. Wilson was deeply religious throughout his life. He enrolled at The College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton University) in the autumn of 1875. There, he pursued an interest in debating and journalism, becoming managing editor of the Princetonian in 1876. He became the paper’s chief editor and was also elected to athletic associations. Wilson came into his own during the magical years at Princeton and was interested in politics even then. In an article entitled "Cabinet Government in the United States" that was published in The International Review when Wilson was a senior, he wrote, "Congress is a deliberative body in which there is little real deliberation. A legislature which legislates with no real discus... ...the Senate refused to accept the Treaty of Versailles. Wilson, for his part, refused to resign because of his sickness. Despite America’s refusal to sign the peace treaty, Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize of 1919. He finished his term and left the White House on March 4, 1920, moving to a nearby home on S Street. Despite his poor health, Wilson did what he could to lobby for the league in retirement. In May of 1923, he sent in essay entitled "The Road Away from Revolution" to the Atlantic Monthly. He described it as an "essay in the form of a challenge." It addressed capitalism and the Russian Revolution and was enormously painful for him to write. Surprisingly, Wilson outlived his successor, President Warren Harding, who died while in office. Wilson died on February 3, 1924. He remains one of the most controversial presidents the United States has ever had.

Love is Ephemeral

So much of what we do is lost and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves. In the short story, â€Å"One of His Good Days†, by Laurence Hill, defines the idea that love is ephemeral. Love is a bond between mortal beings. But what happens when that bond is broken because of an illness? Can you love someone and not be in love with them? To prove this, the author uses the literary technique known as tone to show the reader how the characters feel about their situation they are In. Another literary technique the author uses to demonstrate the theme Is characterization.Hill uses horizontally in the story by showing the actions of the characters. Therefore, Hill uses the literary techniques of tone and characterization to develop the controlling idea that love is ephemeral. Hill uses tone to show the reader how Charlotte emotions get In the way of her love for Francis. Love is a dark and intangible feeling that can expose its targets to danger, pain and suffering. After the car acciden t that Francis had, Charlotte was taking care of him and was nurturing him In any way she could. But it came to a point when Charlotte realized she was no longer his wife and only a caregiver to him.And that's when her love died for Francis. For instance, Francis wants her to stay downstairs with him for the night when she responds, â€Å"l want to sleep. Haven't slept in a month. She had hardness to her voice that he hadn't heard before he tried to look in her eyes. She turned her head away. (9). Charlotte found it suffocating to be around Francis twenty four seven looking after him as If he was a baby. She was tired and reached her limit, which Is why she couldn't look at him any longer. And when she did look at him, she would â€Å"stare at him with eyes like empty saucers†. ). It was not only Francis who was suffering, but Charlotte to, and she did not want the love for her husband to have a dark and miserable end. Hill uses characterization of Charlotte to demonstrate h ow diminishing health in the elderly, establishes leads to marital estrangement. Charlotte personality changes from warm and loving to cold and removed due to her husband's worsening health. First, Charlotte does everything In her power to ensure her husband's well being, â€Å"she cooked for him and lifted him onto the toilet and got up four times a night for him† (9).Charlotte character changes throughout the story. She starts to see her spouse more as a burden than a husband. Charlotte is exhausted and leaves her husband in the hospital's care. Charlotte visits became fewer and fewer. â€Å"At first, she visited him twice a day, then once a day, then a few times a week, and lately, once a week† (9). It was as If she no longer knew him. Charlotte marriage with her husband has failed due to his recurring disease. People Judge others when they find out a spouse have dropped of the other at the door of a hospital or nursing home. But at what cost?

A Razorblade Romance

He was lying on the bedroom floor surrounded by his own crimson fluid dripping from the open wound in his neck. She found him all alone it wasn't right for her to find him like that, it scarred her for life physically and emotionally. It was 6am and they were all happy getting ready for the big day with all the arrangements in place everything was going to be perfect. Her maid was perfecting her hair into the most beautiful curls, and he was helping the best man with his speech. When all was ready she covered her dress with a long red coat so that it didn't get dirty, â€Å"The car is here we better get going† she called to her maids and her friend who was her maid of honour. They all piled into the vehicle and disappeared over the horizon towards the church. He, on the other hand, was very nervous. His heart was beating faster than it ever had before and his palms were sweating profusely, it was abnormal. He told the best man to go get into the car and that he would meet him there, he had a few more things to take care of. Now he was alone. At first he didn't know what to do with himself. He was pacing up and down the room trying to control his breathing. He could hear the car beeping the horn for him to hurry, he didn't know what to do. When he got himself together and was finally ready the maid came in crying. He went up to her and kissed her and said everything was going to be alright. She replied in a murmured voice he didn't fully understand at first, she then repeated what she had first said and he stood back with the look of shock in his eyes. He suddenly realised then he can't live the life he has. He has a fiancà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ to go and marry, and a mistress in front of him telling him she is now pregnant with his child. The maid cleaned her face and told him to leave his fiancà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ now, otherwise if he goes ahead with the marriage he will never be able to get away from this life he has created. He looked at her struggling for words to say, he didn't know what he should do. He thought about running away with the maid, whom he doesn't love now, which would make him miserable, and marrying his fiancà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ would make him the happiest man alive, but to have her find out about this would be too much of a risk. There is a fine line between life and death he thought, in life you do as much as you can to make you happy and live it to the full, but death, death is the coward's way out and only something that's supposed to happen when you're old. He looked at himself in the mirror and knew that there was not much to live for anymore. He was a coward and that would never change. His time had come to end all of these affairs. So he took a knife and told the maid to leave and that he would meet her down in the foyer of the house. After she had left he brought the knife to his throat and made it a quick and painless experience so that he didn't have to hurt anymore. When she arrived home crying and miserable she ran upstairs to her room and took off her gown. She cried so much her lungs felt sore and swollen. She wondered where he could be and went to his room. As she opened the door she saw red on the floor and was curious as to what it was. She walked in and that's when she found him.