Animal Testing Essay Example for Free

Animal Testing Essay Living in the twenty-ï ¬ rst century society is beginning to raise questions about the importance and relevance of issues that could very easily alter our way of living. Animal testing is one of these issues; the use of non-human animals in experiments. When an opinion regarding whether or not animal testing is ethical is mentioned in conversation or our news, citizens generally begin to question its morality. In debates, the issues on animal testing should be divided into two sub-categories: what is necessary for survival, and what is moral. If animals do feel a little pain, can you imagine how they feel? They are forced to do something that they do not want to do just because they cant actually say ‘no’. Yet, scientists, the well educated people, believe that we should keep it, so should we really get rid of it? Animals used: Many different species of animals are used in research. In 2003, the majority of procedures used mice and rats. Other mammals accounted for around 3% of the total, including 11,000 pigs, 5000 dogs and 3000 primates (for example, monkeys and marmosets). Laboratory mice are used more often in research every year than any other animal species. Mice, and other rodents such as rats and hamsters, make up over 90% of the animals used in biomedical research. In addition to having bodies that work similar to humans and other animals, rodents are small in size, easy to handle, relatively inexpensive to buy and keep, and produce many offspring in a short period of time. However, rodents may not always be the best animal to use in certain experiments. In these cases, dogs, cats, rabbits, sheep, ï ¬ sh, birds, reptiles and amphibians, or other kinds of animals may be used. All of these animals together make up less than 10% of the animals used in research. Methods of testing the drug: 1.Exposure Testing Some animals are tested by exposure testing. Animals like rats, dogs, cats, monkeys and birds are exposed to things that people would normally be exposed to. Exposure includes inhaling cigarette smoke or being in a place where furniture polish is sprayed. Exposure to microwaves, UV lights, the sun and extremes in temperature are also ways animals are tested. The results found include diseases that show up because of exposure to elements, learning disabilities that might occur (based on maze and behavior tests after exposure) and pregnancy complications that go along with exposure. These tests are usually used to make conclusions about what a humans reaction would be to the speciï ¬ c substances or conditions that the animals were exposed to. Conclusions might be that products are safe for humans based on exposure to animals or that products and elements are not safe based on what happened to the animals. 2.Skin Testing Some products, like cosmetics, are tested on animals by skin testing. In this method of testing, animals have products applied to their skin. This is done especially with pigs. The products, like cosmetics and other skin care products, are introduced to the animals skin, and the results are recorded. Most of this testing is done by cosmetic companies themselves, who are looking for any adverse reactions the products might have. Reactions they are looking for include breakouts, skin irritations, sicknesses or allergies that crop up with exposure. Research companies might be paid by cosmetic companies to test the products of competitor companies to make sure that the products they are selling will perform better. Cosmetic companies and skin care companies are also looking to test how well their products work Skin testing on an animal http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/tags/skin against the claims they have made for their own +corrosion/default.aspx products. 3.Injection Testing Many animals are tested with injection testing. For drug testing, this might mean injecting an animal with a drug to see what the side effects of the drug might be. Allergy medications, acne medications, seizure medications and disease medications are tested on health animals to test for side effects like sicknesses, birth defects or behavior problems. Other animals are tested by ï ¬ rst being injected with a disease or a sickness, and then injected with a course of drugs to see which drug might beneï ¬ t it the most. Diseases include AIDS, Cancer, Parkinsons Diabetes and Epilepsy. The beneï ¬ ts they are looking for include a reduction in symptoms, a cure for the disease, or a way to slow down the diseases progress. Injection testing usually measures the effects of the substance that is being injected on the animals, in order to see what results those things might have Ingected animal testing for people. http://urchinmovement.com/ 2011/08/11/the-rise-of-the-planetof-the-apes-animal-testing-goesmainstream/ 2 Nayla Khalifa AlKhalifa 4.Creation Testing Some animals are created in order to be tested, or their creation itself is the test. Scientists play with the genetic makeup of animals and attempt to create new animals. They also perform experiments on animals in utero, such as inject them with drugs, expose them to chemicals and change their genetic makeup to see if these experiments can be accomplished successfully and then to see if those results can be repeated for humans. Animals are cloned in labs to see if the cloning process works and what drugs, processes and genetic manipulations affect cloning in what way. Cloned animals are then studied to determine the effects of cloning on a general population. 5.Behavior Testing Some animals are tested in a way that is unobtrusive. Behavior tests are not usually meant to test a product or cosmetic or drug. They are tests that look at the lives of the animals and their behaviors. Some tests might include testing the speed at which mice can run various mazes or testing an animals ability to recognize colors or symbols. These tests might include exposing animals to loud sounds like music or yelling or to stressful situations including loud sounds, ï ¬â€šashing lights or strange smells or vibrations. Researchers then watch their behavior and make conclusions about what might happen to people in the same situation. Behavior tests also include studying the way a dog thinks by having him respond to commands and stimuli or testing the way another animal reacts when praised or yelled at. These behavioral tests give more information about how animals think and how their brains work, and also provide insights into why humans might have some of the same behaviors or issues as animals. What are the alternatives? There is a huge range of non- animal research techniques that, as well as being a more humane approach to science, can also be cheaper, quicker and more effective. These include: ââ€" Cell cultures Almost every type of human cell can be grown in culture and this has been key to understanding cancers, sepsis, kidney disease and HIV/AIDS. Cells grown in test tubes are routinely used in chemical safety testing, vaccine production, medicines development and to diagnose disease. ââ€" Chemical methods Analytical techniques used by chemists can be used to detect toxins in products, such as the LCMS method to replace the use of mice who are injected to detect toxins in shellï ¬ sh. ââ€" Tissue and organ culture Tissues from humans donated after surgery or even death can be used to investigate diseases and also test whether drugs might be safe and effective, before they are used on humans. ââ€" Computer models Programs run on computers can be used to predict whether a chemical is going to be harmful based on its similarity to other chemicals, or to even simulate body processes such as heart rate. ââ€" Human Volunteers Studies of humans can often be the best way to replace animals. We can now see inside peoples’ brains using imaging machines or test microscopic amounts of new drugs harmlessly on volunteers, as well as conduct large scale studies of populations to help see what might cause disease (epidemiology). Scientists are moving away from using animals but it is a slow process and they need more support. My opinion on animal testing is that we still need it but we should try to minimize the amount of animals being used and the pain the may experience even when pain relievers and anesthetics are used. We should use alternatives as much as we need to. We should not completely ban animal testing until we have a full replacement for it that works just as well or even better. Scientist are actually just trying to save someones life, I think many people in this world would see that as a selï ¬â€šess act. Personally I would rather an animal die than a cancer patient. They also test on animals as some of them are very much like humans, that means if an animal has a positive reaction towards a drug we are one step closer to curing a disease and we would all rather an animal die during research than a human. Animals are mostly used to develop medicines for the sick and have they have actually helped ï ¬ nd different treatments for cancer, strokes, and may other diseases that many people die from each year. Anyone that thinks that they are against animal testing is basically telling some cancer patients that they would rather them die then some rats. I would never ban animal testing. I ï ¬ nd that the people who protest against animal testing are an insult to the poor people that are ï ¬ ghting for their lives lying in a hospital bed some where with one chance of getting their life back by taking a drug that may have been tested on animals. It makes me feel really uncomfortable knowing that healthy people want something which will drastically decrease the standard of living of others. A complete ban on animal testing will have very serious negative effects on medical research. I believe that developing better, more effective and safer drugs is more important than sparing a few rats. Either way, if we continue animal testing ( which we are now ) too many animals are getting hurt, money is being spent, and products are still being tested, but if we ban animal testing we only have alternatives that work with only certain parts of an animals body. So, if we do either one we will still have issues.

Issues of SME Entrepreneurs and Investment Aspects

Issues of SME Entrepreneurs and Investment Aspects Introduction Start-Up Entrepreneurs who wish to transform their business dreams into reality will one way or another reach out for the external finance. Many new entrepreneurial start-up businesses do not obtain start-up financing (Gruber, 2004; Mason Harrison, 2004b). Private individual investors with a high net worth, known as business angels, represent the largest source of start-up financing for new entrepreneurial businesses (Aernoudt, 2005a). Establishment of new businesses is vital to the development and growth of the countrys economy (Reynolds et al., 2003). Since the first publication on a business angel was published by (Wetel, 1981), many authors have researched on the informal investment market and studied closely monitoring business angels characteristics, investment criteria and issues related to an investment. According to (Masons Harrison, 2000), it is cited that over the past generations many researches have been carried out in different countries and compared with each other. This dissertation will discuss about the mind of an investor and how they operate in terms of investing their financial assets in a start-up business they believe in succeeding. The main reason is to broaden our understanding of investment aspects of a business angel and how an entrepreneur should respond to it. To find out information sources on business start-ups, refer (Appendix 1). Problem Discussions Many business entrepreneurs do not have the luxury of initial capital thats needed to start-up a new business as it requires a vast amount of finance equity (Clarke, 2005; Sohl, 2006). How do entrepreneurs find the initial capital and which investor will trust the business ideas and fund the company? What is the difference between a good investment and a poor decision? What are the requirements of a business angel? These are the main issues SME business starters go through in the initial stages of a business (Wiltbank Boeker, 2007). The answers for all these issues vary depending on several criteria. For example, it could vary due to the type of the business the entrepreneur wish to start, the capacity of the risk involved, the return of investment period and especially the preference of the entrepreneur working alone or with the influence of the investor (Kaplan Schoar, 2005). The dissertation tries to reach active business angels view points on the issues of SME entrepreneurs and investment aspects. The researcher is confident that this thesis will benefit both the business angels and entrepreneurs. Introduction Of The Research Subjects According to a survey conducted by the (EIRO), the governments Bolton Committee in its 1971 report clarified that there is no single definition to explain Small to medium enterprises because of the wide diversity of businesses that operate in the United Kingdom. The report also explained that small to medium business varies according to the type of sector it operates. However section 249 of the Companies act of 1985 affirms that a small company will have to attribute at least two of the following characteristics; Turnover less than GBP 2.8 million Total balance sheet less than GBP 1.4 million Employees less than 50 And a medium sized entrepreneur should operate under the following regulations; Turnover less than GBP 11.2 million Total balance sheet less than GBP 5.6 million Employees less than 250 However in real practice, business functions that operate under small to medium terms, take on a range of working definitions depending on their business objectives (Leedy Ormfod, 2001). EIRO European Industrial Relations Observatory Formal And Informal Venture Capitalists Venture Capital is also known as risk investment (Langberg, 2004). Risk investment is invested as shares and the financier expects a superior â€Å"rate of return to recompense for the amount of risk invested (Kelly Hay, 2003). There are 2 main types of venture financing in the UK and they are; formal venture capitalists (large financial institutions) and informal venture capitalists (wealthy private investors commonly known as business angels). The UK Formal Venture capitalism began in the 18th century (Harding Bosma, 2007). During that time Entrepreneurs found affluent individuals to get support for their new businesses. This informal tradition of funding eventually formed a business trade by a number of venture capital firms created by many wealthy. Currently there are over 120 venture capital establishments in the UK, which fund billions of cash annually to the UK SME market (Frielinghaus et al., 2005). Informal venture capitalists are mainly recognized as Business Angels who are wealthy individuals with a high class reputation of managing well run businesses (Masson Harrison, 2004). As investors business angels bare a larger risk than venture capital firms as they have to be liable for the loss of the investment incase the business they invest lose out. On the other hand venture capital firms have many investors who can be hand in hand to one another in a bad situation (Masson Harrison, 2004). Business angels are more common in UK where they tend to invest more on SME businesses where banks and venture capital firms decide not to, which will be further discussed under evidence analysis (Madill et al., 2005). Business angels tend to be get more closer to the entrepreneur with a higher level of involvement in the firms operations, which shows that their choice of target firms are somewhat different than venture capital firms requirements and business angels investment decisions are made solely on the basis of the relationship between the entrepreneur and the investor (Masson Harrison, 2002). Although entrepreneurs could use formal informal investors at different stages in the business as shown in the (figure 1), it shows where business angels are needed where we will further discuss later on (Aernoudt, R., 1999). Figure 1: Financial sources and their involving stages Source: (VENTURE CAPITAL, 1999, VOL. 1, NO. 2, 187 – 195) Objectives Understand a business angel, an entrepreneur and their relationship in a SME start-up businesses in UK Identify detailed requirements of business angels when it comes to an investment Determine how different countries cultures undertake investments Literature Review This literature review is concerned about the academic groundwork of the research objectives which inquires about investment categories business angels tend to invest in a small to medium sized business sector. It also looks at how different authors have elucidated about the investment natures of different countries like New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden etc. In order to give a clear structure of this academic review, it will be categorized into subsections to converse different authors views about the research objectives. First the review will discuss about the academic Theories of investments. Then it looks at Business angels and entrepreneurs in the UK. Finally the review will investigate different countries nature of investments in their own markets. 2.1 Theories of Investment There are several investment theories defined and compared by many authors. This thesis mainly focuses on informal investors who wish to invest on SME start-up businesses. Although Stock market related investment theories are irrelevant for our objectives it will be impolite to ignore discussing all investment theories. Therefore lets investigate the theories and in the later chapters discuss the practical concepts (evidence) used currently by successful investors. Among the following theories, Efficient Market Theory will be related to investment in stock listed companies and â€Å"principal-agent, prisoners dilemma framework resource based theory† will be about business angels investing in SME businesses. 2.1.1 Efficient Market Theory (EMT) According to (Burton Malkiel, 1973), the stock values that show in the stock market almost define where the company is in its territory and how well it performs compared to its competitors. He suggests that stock prices may not always be accurate but it can be correct most of the time. On the other hand few business managers disagree, explaining that there companys values are priced unfairly and stock prices do not accurately replicate the performance of their companies (Burton Malkiel, 1973). The following discussion will communicate what efficient market theory is about and explore the arguments against it. According to (Michael Firth, 1975), it is stated that there were many academic researches carried out to monitor the share price behavior by investment advisory firms and investors to obtain profitable investment strategies. What is EMT or EMH? (Burton Malkiel, 1973) explained that Efficient Market Theory (EMT) is also known as Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) on a more technical term. This theory is a method of defining how stock values behave the way they do in terms of investment decisions. (Eugene Fama, 1965) later categorized EMH into three sub assumptions and they are as follows; 1. Weak form (EMH) This method assumes that current stock values replicate all past information about the specific company such as performance measurements, returns etc. By analyzing the stocks price chart, it can help the investors verify as to what the future holds for the companys stock values (Eugene Fama, 1965). 2. Semi strong (EMH) The assumption built on this method is that all the publicly available information and historical information replicates the values of a companys stock prices in the market. So the investors could gain more knowledge and confidence through a companys financial statements and recent developments. It will enable the investors to judge the company future performance (Eugene Fama, 1965). 3. Strong form (EMH) This method expressed that, other than publicly available information, the investors get an inside look into the company which largely reflects the stock value (Eugene Fama, 1965). Principal Agent Theory In general terms Principal Agent theory is defined as a business management framework to observe the behavior between employer contractor or employer employees (Spence and Zeckhauser, 1971; Ross, 1973). So here this theory can be applied to the business angel entrepreneur relationship and discuss its implication on the investment process (Jenson and Meckling, 1976; Harris and Raviv, 1978). In the corporate business, the principal (Business angel) usually appoints the agent (manager) or else make sure the entrepreneur works according to the principals ideas in the business (Jenson and Meckling, 1976). The principal usually make sure that the agents business intentions are as similar to him/her (www.financemind.com). In other words, the principal wishes to make sure that the business runs well and succeed the way he/she believes best (Eisenhardt, 1989). But on the other hand, over an informational advantage the agent could think otherwise for the business. This is where the problem of shared risks arises as (Eisenhardt, 1989) explains, where the Investor (principal) and the agent (manager) could end up having different opinions towards the business. The agency theory is widely used in venture capitalism (Bruton, Fried Hisrich, 2000a). Having conflicts due to differences in interests, it is essential to minimize these risks as (Bruton, Fried Hisrich, 2000b) agrees with Eisenhardt. To reduce these risks investors make sure that they actively monitor the companies they invest and build a better and close relationship with each other (Busenitz, Fiet Moesel, 2004). According to (Sweeting Wong, 1997), using a principal agent theory to evaluate a business angel investment is not highly recommended anymore. It is much better to have a mutually agreed relationship. The agency theory shows that money motivates both the principal and the agent (Busenitz, Fiet Moesel, 2004). But financial motivations or economic factors do not relate business angels relationship with the entrepreneur in this theory (Wijbenga et al., 2003). Prisoners Dilemma Framework (PDF) This is yet another theory that can be used in an investment study. In this framework there can be either a conflict or a development between the two parties involved (Cable Shane, 1997). In this theory, both parties can either go in their separate interests and gain a certain pay off or co-operate with each other and achieve a higher pay off (Bruton, Fried Hisrich, 2000). The prisoners dilemma framework promises better fitting for the business angels and the entrepreneurs because it does not presume a hierarchical relationship between the two parties (Bruton, Fried Hisrich, 2000; Cable Shane, 1997). Still the PDF theory only focuses on the investor – entrepreneur relationship and not any of the business angel investment activities or impacts. It concludes that the theory is not suitable enough to define a business angel entrepreneur relationship (Cable Shane, 1997). Resource Based Theory The resource based theory has many influences on the entrepreneurship. Business angels can contribute many resources other than cash it self. According to Freear, Sohl and Wetzet (2002), angel investors can contribute five types of resources to an entrepreneur: Human, physical, social, organizational financial. Human capital can be taken as angel investors contribution of business knowledge, skills and business experience to the firm (Erikson Nerdrum, 2001a). Social capital can be gained when business angels provide their business contacts (Angel networks). By this, the entrepreneur has the opportunity to meet other investors and extend the funding possibilities to the business. Physical resources can be machines or factories and organizational capital can be described as the influence and advice the investors can give for the business for an example making the business improve on its experience (Erikson Nerdrum, 2001b). Financial capital consists of the funding provided in the beginning of the start-up phase (Cassar, 2003). By far this presumed to be the best suited theory to define a relationship between a Business angel and an Entrepreneur where all aspects are covered (Rose, 2005). Summary Of Theories Looking back at the efficient market theory, Agency theory, Prisoners dilemma framework and Resource based theory; it seems to be that the â€Å"Resource based theory† is the most suitable theoretical framework for the Business angel investments. However the Resource based theory has to be amended with few assumptions: Human capital should be taken as the (knowledge, skills business experience) investors contribute with (Ardichvili et al. (2002). Although we discussed the above theories, many researchers have described and tried to apply other similar theories to the investor investee relationship [Example: Procedural Justice (Busenitz, Fiet Moesel, 2004), learning and knowledge-based view (De Clercq Sapienza, 2002), resource exchange theory (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin Welbourne, 1990)]. All the investment theories have a common characteristic that have only a few relevant investment features in them to the investor-investee concept. To make it applicable for the Business angels and entrepreneurs all these theories should have few amendments and adaptations (Sapienza, Manigart Vermeir, 1996). Small And Medium Enterprise (SME) William Kendall, the Chief Executive of Whole Earth Ltd stated, â€Å"SME business is a fantastic place to work. You have to think innovatively to be an entrepreneur. Its thrilling and its enjoyable.† According to (European Industrial Relations Observatory) there is no general definition for SME. But the (Governments Bolton Committee, 1971) cited that the characteristic of a SME firm is a self-sufficient business being owned by a single owner with a small market share. The report also stated that the size of the SME changes in different industries. Although it is hard to give one specific definition for SMEs, it can be measured and classified by numbers (employees revenue rates). The defining measurements are as follows: Definitions: (The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform – BERR, UK) has defined SME with 3 types of measurements and those are based on amount of employees: Micro firms: 0-9 employees; Small firms: 0-49 employees and Medium firms: 50-249. The (European Commission) changed the definition of the SME to increase the partnerships and innovations. The definition which took affect on 2005 is: â€Å" A Micro, Small and Medium-sized enterprise (SME) is made up of firms which employ less than 250 employees and have yearly revenue less than 50 million euro†. Importance Of SME In The Uk The country has raised the level of growth productivity in the last era reducing the competition gap between other countries like US, France Germany (BERR, 2008). Currently UK is reacting well to the global prospects and challenges. The growth of the SME market increases each year promising to boost the economy of the country. According to (European Business Angels Network (2007) Dissemination Report on the Potential for Business Angels Investment and Networks in Europe), the employment and annual revenue contribution of the SME industry as a whole is more than 50 percent of the total. The UK government provides necessary support for people to step up and start their innovative business to increase the competition level of the country (www.berr.gov.uk). The Entrepreneur Earlier it was discussed that previously recognized agency theories explains that the investor, ensuring a healthy relationship is highly regarded as a successful investment aspect in an investment (Kelly Hay, 2003). Therefore exploring more about what authors have studied about entrepreneurs and investors is vital. The difference between a formal venture capitalist and a business angel is that a venture capitalist invests looking at the company and its ability to perform (Schramm, 2004). On the other hand the business angel focuses mostly on the entrepreneur to make sure there can be a good business relationship (Mark and Robinson 2000, p138). The entrepreneur is the only key to get the funding needed for a start-up business. As an entrepreneur, it is vital to gain the investors trust and confidence in the business idea. According to (Osnabrugge Robinson 2000, p123), it is cited that during a business start-up there is a high percentage of entrepreneurs failing to make good management decisions in the initial stages. It is very sensible for an entrepreneur to seek a business angel as they pay special interest on the business they invest in with all their resources including non-financial contributions. It could help fill all the management weaknesses of an initial stage of the business and sav e huge amounts of consulting and managerial costs (Mason and Stark, 2004). Entrepreneur Evaluation (Osnabrugge Robinson, 2000) had explained that entrepreneurs should be aware that the investor not only pays attention on the business proposition but also the entrepreneur himself to ensure the safety, confidence, enthusiasm and the ability to depend on the entrepreneur. Trust is something investors work hard to find in an entrepreneur, because they invest large amounts of financial resources on a person they met in a short period of time (Osnabrugge Robinson 2000, p125). According to a study conducted by Stedler and Peters; entrepreneurs capability to convince the business angel to invest is very important and showed that 81% of business angels has expressed that a positive first impression established in the first meeting as important (Stedler and Peters, 2000). When it comes to angel investment decisions being made, business angels need to ensure that the entrepreneur should be a proficient manager (Gerald and Joel, 2000). Loyalty, leadership, reliability and personality are important characteristics that angel investors look into when they evaluate entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur should be able to have those qualities to gain an influence of the investor (Aernoudt 1999 Sappa 2006). The characteristics that separate a good ownership from a poor is, that if the entrepreneur is able to establish trust and leadership skills with confidence and make the employees follow him/her (Micah Baldwin 2007). Investors find it comforting to know that the entrepreneurs have invested partly on the business before seeking external investment. This gives the investor the idea that the entrepreneur has given all the effort in the involvement of the process and that the financial value of the business is appreciated (Osnabrugge Robinson 2000, p127). According to (Sappa 2006), business angels take lots of time and effort into finding out background information on the entrepreneur to ensure that the owner has the right expertise to manage the business he proposes. (Haines and Riding 1998) corroborates furthermore by adding that the entrepreneur sharing his/her previous business experiences and being much more practical about the business brings more information and confidence to the investor. Finally all the above characteristics that were discussed are very important for a new start-up entrepreneur to influence investments from professional business angels. Business Angels As we have gone through the theories of business angels it is important to know who business angels are in the minds of researchers. A business angel is a highly prosperous individual who can be a business person and willing to invest part of his/hers finance on a promising entrepreneur who has a potential to succeed (Isakssin 2000, Helle 2004). According to (Harrison Manson, 1999), there are three eras of business angel researches conducted in the investment business: First era of business angel research was conducted by United States of America in early 1980s. Authors like; (Landstrom, 1993) from Sweden and (Harrison Manson, 1992) from United Kingdom repeated the same work by giving out similar results. In this era it was solely concentrated on business angels thoughts, activities and characteristics (Freear, Sohl Wetzel, 2002). Second era enabled researchers to go deep into business angels by investigating their post investment involvements. Theory building up and applying for business angels began in this era. Although there were theories built for business angels, it wasnt developed enough to be completely suitable for the activities of angel investors (Connolly et al., 2006). Third era will be the era about the future researches of business angels. There were many faults in the previous researches done and they need to be taken in a new direction to make sure the researches investigated will produce good results (Arenius Minniti, 2005). This would finally make us understand the minds of business angels and match the Business angel – Entrepreneur relationship under changing economy, culture competition (Connolly, OGorman Bogue, 2006). By the help of (Harrison Mason) Swedish researchers like (Sorheim 2005) will enable to investigate on the changing environment of Business angels. This also mean that the theories being found in the previous eras could finally be developed enough to apply on the business angels current investment methods and get positive results (Gompers Lerner, 2007). Characteristics Of Business Angels Almost all the business angels who actively invest on new businesses have few common characteristics. They all have the main motive to increase the potential of their financial capital (Duxbary, Haines Riding 1996). But (Landstrom 1993, Osnabrugge and Robinson 2000) explained that all business angels should not be profiled in a similar way because cultures and person to person could make them different to each others ways in terms of making a personal investment decision. Although there could be many differences between business angels, (Osnabrugge and Robinson, 2000) also stated that there are general motives behind all business angels when it comes to a certain result they expect out of an investment. When Venture capitalists and business angels are taken together it is wide clear that Business angels are individuals who prefer to invest less financial capital than of the formal investors who invest large amounts. Business angels also prefer to invest their money mainly on initial stages of a business (Osnabrugge and Robinson 2000). When it comes to formal investors, they are selective in industries they invest on depending on a lot of information and research. But the Business angels invest on the entrepreneur regardless of what industry sector the business idea would succeed on. They do little research on the industry but heavy research on the entrepreneur they expect to build a trust worthy relationship, because they depend on the entrepreneur mu ch more than the venture capitalists that only rely on the market and the performance of the company (Osnabrugge and Robinson 2000, p63). Furthermore a research conducted in the Norwegian angel market and studies conducted in the US have identified several angel categories. There could be cultural and economical differences among countries like (UK, Sweden Singapore) but angel investors do have likely investment standards in those countries (Landstrom 1993). (Freeny, Haines Riding 1998) explained that the markets which business angels are currently active are where they are wiling to invest more on. There could be many differences in Business angels personalities and points of views of the whole investment process. There are studies that showed the â€Å"most regular business angel†. It is stated that the age, where successful individuals decide to invest their money on a business is when they get to their 50s. This shows that it is almost a retirement phase from a business point of view. This can be confirmed by a research carried out in Germany where it stated that 95% of BAs were male individuals, 56% were directors or owners of their businesses and 17% were individuals who were in the director board on other organizations (Stedler Peters, 2003). Even (Osnabrugge and Robinson 2000, p156) supported Stedler and Peters by explaining that the individuals were in director posts and had good business experiences before they decide to move on into personal investments. Most business angels involve themselves heavily during the initial stages of start-up businesses. They wish to invest near to their homes to make sure of convenience. And Business angels are well educated, wealthy beyond a certain average and expect to have a good life with their feet up on a desk holding a glass of wine, which we all hope to achieve one fine day (Freeny, Haines Riding 1998). Although this thesis aims to look at the characteristics of UK business angels, it was clear by all previous studies that there are common statistics about their decisions and behaviors. This tells us that, UK angel investors too are not far from what was described before in the theories. Still it is important to point out few common characteristics of UK business angels; Common Characteristics Of UK Business Angels According to (Ardichvili et al., 2002), Business angels in the UK have been or still are active business owners. They invest in more similar markets to what they are operating in, which saves them a lot of time trying to understand the market and the operations. Like all business angels, UK investors are highly motivated by the return of their investments and the effort (non financial motives) they have put in to the start-up business. They do enjoy being a part of a new business hoping to succeed for the better part of the community and the country (Landstrom 1993). Furthermore UK business angels prefers and makes sure they invest on new businesses that they could visit regularly, which means they invest in promising firms which will locate geographically near to where they reside (Ardichvili et al., 2002). BAs would rather invest in firms within their residing area, than investing in a location where they find it hard to meet the entrepreneur even though it would double their investments (Harrison, Mason Robson, 2003). Most British angels prefer their entrepreneurs operate within 100 miles of their homes although investors who invested on technological businesses are willing to travel long distances (www.bbaa.org.uk). According to Mason, British angels mostly prefer to invest on small businesses during its initial stages where it is not too late to put in not just their finance sources but their advice and experience to get things on the right track. This, in a way gives them satisfaction of being a part of a promising business (Mason, 2002). After going through the common characteristics of British Angel Investors, it is quite clear that there isnt a major difference compared with the international countries like Sweden and Denmark which will be discussed later. We discussed about Business angels and it is vital to know the categories of their investments. Investment Aspects Of A Business Angel One of the objectives of this thesis is to find out how Business angels in UK and other similar countries decide to invest on a certain investment they find it promising. An investor looking for good reasons to decide on an investment is known as Investment Aspects or Investment Criteria (Landstrom, 1993). It is a way of evaluating the business and the entrepreneur to ensure the security and the profitability of the business proposal. According to the venture capitalism and angel investment comparison carried out by (Osnabrugge Robinson 2000), it revealed that although there were similarities among their attributes in their investment standards there were a certain amount of dissimilarities which makes business angels favorites for a new start up business. For an example, venture capitalists are prepared to invest almost in all stages of a business and therefore they look into all the past and probable financial records of the company. On the other hand the business angels much prefer to invest on a start-up phase of a new business where past financial experiences are not so important to them (Osnabrugge Robinson 2000). Most business angels give similar priorities to investment aspects, when it comes to making a decision. With much researches conducted over the past years (Osnabrugge Robinson 2000) has come up with a selected summary that illustrates the criteria of an investment. The following (Table 1) of twenty-five selective factors are prioritized by well known angel investors; Priority order Priority factors for an investment 1 passion of the industrialist 2 Dependability of the industrialist 3 Sales prospective of the product 4 proficiency of the industrialist 5 Entrepreneur(s) first impression 6 Development prospective of the market 7 Quality of the product 8 Benefits Issues of SME Entrepreneurs and Investment Aspects Issues of SME Entrepreneurs and Investment Aspects Introduction Start-Up Entrepreneurs who wish to transform their business dreams into reality will one way or another reach out for the external finance. Many new entrepreneurial start-up businesses do not obtain start-up financing (Gruber, 2004; Mason Harrison, 2004b). Private individual investors with a high net worth, known as business angels, represent the largest source of start-up financing for new entrepreneurial businesses (Aernoudt, 2005a). Establishment of new businesses is vital to the development and growth of the countrys economy (Reynolds et al., 2003). Since the first publication on a business angel was published by (Wetel, 1981), many authors have researched on the informal investment market and studied closely monitoring business angels characteristics, investment criteria and issues related to an investment. According to (Masons Harrison, 2000), it is cited that over the past generations many researches have been carried out in different countries and compared with each other. This dissertation will discuss about the mind of an investor and how they operate in terms of investing their financial assets in a start-up business they believe in succeeding. The main reason is to broaden our understanding of investment aspects of a business angel and how an entrepreneur should respond to it. To find out information sources on business start-ups, refer (Appendix 1). Problem Discussions Many business entrepreneurs do not have the luxury of initial capital thats needed to start-up a new business as it requires a vast amount of finance equity (Clarke, 2005; Sohl, 2006). How do entrepreneurs find the initial capital and which investor will trust the business ideas and fund the company? What is the difference between a good investment and a poor decision? What are the requirements of a business angel? These are the main issues SME business starters go through in the initial stages of a business (Wiltbank Boeker, 2007). The answers for all these issues vary depending on several criteria. For example, it could vary due to the type of the business the entrepreneur wish to start, the capacity of the risk involved, the return of investment period and especially the preference of the entrepreneur working alone or with the influence of the investor (Kaplan Schoar, 2005). The dissertation tries to reach active business angels view points on the issues of SME entrepreneurs and investment aspects. The researcher is confident that this thesis will benefit both the business angels and entrepreneurs. Introduction Of The Research Subjects According to a survey conducted by the (EIRO), the governments Bolton Committee in its 1971 report clarified that there is no single definition to explain Small to medium enterprises because of the wide diversity of businesses that operate in the United Kingdom. The report also explained that small to medium business varies according to the type of sector it operates. However section 249 of the Companies act of 1985 affirms that a small company will have to attribute at least two of the following characteristics; Turnover less than GBP 2.8 million Total balance sheet less than GBP 1.4 million Employees less than 50 And a medium sized entrepreneur should operate under the following regulations; Turnover less than GBP 11.2 million Total balance sheet less than GBP 5.6 million Employees less than 250 However in real practice, business functions that operate under small to medium terms, take on a range of working definitions depending on their business objectives (Leedy Ormfod, 2001). EIRO European Industrial Relations Observatory Formal And Informal Venture Capitalists Venture Capital is also known as risk investment (Langberg, 2004). Risk investment is invested as shares and the financier expects a superior â€Å"rate of return to recompense for the amount of risk invested (Kelly Hay, 2003). There are 2 main types of venture financing in the UK and they are; formal venture capitalists (large financial institutions) and informal venture capitalists (wealthy private investors commonly known as business angels). The UK Formal Venture capitalism began in the 18th century (Harding Bosma, 2007). During that time Entrepreneurs found affluent individuals to get support for their new businesses. This informal tradition of funding eventually formed a business trade by a number of venture capital firms created by many wealthy. Currently there are over 120 venture capital establishments in the UK, which fund billions of cash annually to the UK SME market (Frielinghaus et al., 2005). Informal venture capitalists are mainly recognized as Business Angels who are wealthy individuals with a high class reputation of managing well run businesses (Masson Harrison, 2004). As investors business angels bare a larger risk than venture capital firms as they have to be liable for the loss of the investment incase the business they invest lose out. On the other hand venture capital firms have many investors who can be hand in hand to one another in a bad situation (Masson Harrison, 2004). Business angels are more common in UK where they tend to invest more on SME businesses where banks and venture capital firms decide not to, which will be further discussed under evidence analysis (Madill et al., 2005). Business angels tend to be get more closer to the entrepreneur with a higher level of involvement in the firms operations, which shows that their choice of target firms are somewhat different than venture capital firms requirements and business angels investment decisions are made solely on the basis of the relationship between the entrepreneur and the investor (Masson Harrison, 2002). Although entrepreneurs could use formal informal investors at different stages in the business as shown in the (figure 1), it shows where business angels are needed where we will further discuss later on (Aernoudt, R., 1999). Figure 1: Financial sources and their involving stages Source: (VENTURE CAPITAL, 1999, VOL. 1, NO. 2, 187 – 195) Objectives Understand a business angel, an entrepreneur and their relationship in a SME start-up businesses in UK Identify detailed requirements of business angels when it comes to an investment Determine how different countries cultures undertake investments Literature Review This literature review is concerned about the academic groundwork of the research objectives which inquires about investment categories business angels tend to invest in a small to medium sized business sector. It also looks at how different authors have elucidated about the investment natures of different countries like New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden etc. In order to give a clear structure of this academic review, it will be categorized into subsections to converse different authors views about the research objectives. First the review will discuss about the academic Theories of investments. Then it looks at Business angels and entrepreneurs in the UK. Finally the review will investigate different countries nature of investments in their own markets. 2.1 Theories of Investment There are several investment theories defined and compared by many authors. This thesis mainly focuses on informal investors who wish to invest on SME start-up businesses. Although Stock market related investment theories are irrelevant for our objectives it will be impolite to ignore discussing all investment theories. Therefore lets investigate the theories and in the later chapters discuss the practical concepts (evidence) used currently by successful investors. Among the following theories, Efficient Market Theory will be related to investment in stock listed companies and â€Å"principal-agent, prisoners dilemma framework resource based theory† will be about business angels investing in SME businesses. 2.1.1 Efficient Market Theory (EMT) According to (Burton Malkiel, 1973), the stock values that show in the stock market almost define where the company is in its territory and how well it performs compared to its competitors. He suggests that stock prices may not always be accurate but it can be correct most of the time. On the other hand few business managers disagree, explaining that there companys values are priced unfairly and stock prices do not accurately replicate the performance of their companies (Burton Malkiel, 1973). The following discussion will communicate what efficient market theory is about and explore the arguments against it. According to (Michael Firth, 1975), it is stated that there were many academic researches carried out to monitor the share price behavior by investment advisory firms and investors to obtain profitable investment strategies. What is EMT or EMH? (Burton Malkiel, 1973) explained that Efficient Market Theory (EMT) is also known as Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) on a more technical term. This theory is a method of defining how stock values behave the way they do in terms of investment decisions. (Eugene Fama, 1965) later categorized EMH into three sub assumptions and they are as follows; 1. Weak form (EMH) This method assumes that current stock values replicate all past information about the specific company such as performance measurements, returns etc. By analyzing the stocks price chart, it can help the investors verify as to what the future holds for the companys stock values (Eugene Fama, 1965). 2. Semi strong (EMH) The assumption built on this method is that all the publicly available information and historical information replicates the values of a companys stock prices in the market. So the investors could gain more knowledge and confidence through a companys financial statements and recent developments. It will enable the investors to judge the company future performance (Eugene Fama, 1965). 3. Strong form (EMH) This method expressed that, other than publicly available information, the investors get an inside look into the company which largely reflects the stock value (Eugene Fama, 1965). Principal Agent Theory In general terms Principal Agent theory is defined as a business management framework to observe the behavior between employer contractor or employer employees (Spence and Zeckhauser, 1971; Ross, 1973). So here this theory can be applied to the business angel entrepreneur relationship and discuss its implication on the investment process (Jenson and Meckling, 1976; Harris and Raviv, 1978). In the corporate business, the principal (Business angel) usually appoints the agent (manager) or else make sure the entrepreneur works according to the principals ideas in the business (Jenson and Meckling, 1976). The principal usually make sure that the agents business intentions are as similar to him/her (www.financemind.com). In other words, the principal wishes to make sure that the business runs well and succeed the way he/she believes best (Eisenhardt, 1989). But on the other hand, over an informational advantage the agent could think otherwise for the business. This is where the problem of shared risks arises as (Eisenhardt, 1989) explains, where the Investor (principal) and the agent (manager) could end up having different opinions towards the business. The agency theory is widely used in venture capitalism (Bruton, Fried Hisrich, 2000a). Having conflicts due to differences in interests, it is essential to minimize these risks as (Bruton, Fried Hisrich, 2000b) agrees with Eisenhardt. To reduce these risks investors make sure that they actively monitor the companies they invest and build a better and close relationship with each other (Busenitz, Fiet Moesel, 2004). According to (Sweeting Wong, 1997), using a principal agent theory to evaluate a business angel investment is not highly recommended anymore. It is much better to have a mutually agreed relationship. The agency theory shows that money motivates both the principal and the agent (Busenitz, Fiet Moesel, 2004). But financial motivations or economic factors do not relate business angels relationship with the entrepreneur in this theory (Wijbenga et al., 2003). Prisoners Dilemma Framework (PDF) This is yet another theory that can be used in an investment study. In this framework there can be either a conflict or a development between the two parties involved (Cable Shane, 1997). In this theory, both parties can either go in their separate interests and gain a certain pay off or co-operate with each other and achieve a higher pay off (Bruton, Fried Hisrich, 2000). The prisoners dilemma framework promises better fitting for the business angels and the entrepreneurs because it does not presume a hierarchical relationship between the two parties (Bruton, Fried Hisrich, 2000; Cable Shane, 1997). Still the PDF theory only focuses on the investor – entrepreneur relationship and not any of the business angel investment activities or impacts. It concludes that the theory is not suitable enough to define a business angel entrepreneur relationship (Cable Shane, 1997). Resource Based Theory The resource based theory has many influences on the entrepreneurship. Business angels can contribute many resources other than cash it self. According to Freear, Sohl and Wetzet (2002), angel investors can contribute five types of resources to an entrepreneur: Human, physical, social, organizational financial. Human capital can be taken as angel investors contribution of business knowledge, skills and business experience to the firm (Erikson Nerdrum, 2001a). Social capital can be gained when business angels provide their business contacts (Angel networks). By this, the entrepreneur has the opportunity to meet other investors and extend the funding possibilities to the business. Physical resources can be machines or factories and organizational capital can be described as the influence and advice the investors can give for the business for an example making the business improve on its experience (Erikson Nerdrum, 2001b). Financial capital consists of the funding provided in the beginning of the start-up phase (Cassar, 2003). By far this presumed to be the best suited theory to define a relationship between a Business angel and an Entrepreneur where all aspects are covered (Rose, 2005). Summary Of Theories Looking back at the efficient market theory, Agency theory, Prisoners dilemma framework and Resource based theory; it seems to be that the â€Å"Resource based theory† is the most suitable theoretical framework for the Business angel investments. However the Resource based theory has to be amended with few assumptions: Human capital should be taken as the (knowledge, skills business experience) investors contribute with (Ardichvili et al. (2002). Although we discussed the above theories, many researchers have described and tried to apply other similar theories to the investor investee relationship [Example: Procedural Justice (Busenitz, Fiet Moesel, 2004), learning and knowledge-based view (De Clercq Sapienza, 2002), resource exchange theory (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin Welbourne, 1990)]. All the investment theories have a common characteristic that have only a few relevant investment features in them to the investor-investee concept. To make it applicable for the Business angels and entrepreneurs all these theories should have few amendments and adaptations (Sapienza, Manigart Vermeir, 1996). Small And Medium Enterprise (SME) William Kendall, the Chief Executive of Whole Earth Ltd stated, â€Å"SME business is a fantastic place to work. You have to think innovatively to be an entrepreneur. Its thrilling and its enjoyable.† According to (European Industrial Relations Observatory) there is no general definition for SME. But the (Governments Bolton Committee, 1971) cited that the characteristic of a SME firm is a self-sufficient business being owned by a single owner with a small market share. The report also stated that the size of the SME changes in different industries. Although it is hard to give one specific definition for SMEs, it can be measured and classified by numbers (employees revenue rates). The defining measurements are as follows: Definitions: (The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform – BERR, UK) has defined SME with 3 types of measurements and those are based on amount of employees: Micro firms: 0-9 employees; Small firms: 0-49 employees and Medium firms: 50-249. The (European Commission) changed the definition of the SME to increase the partnerships and innovations. The definition which took affect on 2005 is: â€Å" A Micro, Small and Medium-sized enterprise (SME) is made up of firms which employ less than 250 employees and have yearly revenue less than 50 million euro†. Importance Of SME In The Uk The country has raised the level of growth productivity in the last era reducing the competition gap between other countries like US, France Germany (BERR, 2008). Currently UK is reacting well to the global prospects and challenges. The growth of the SME market increases each year promising to boost the economy of the country. According to (European Business Angels Network (2007) Dissemination Report on the Potential for Business Angels Investment and Networks in Europe), the employment and annual revenue contribution of the SME industry as a whole is more than 50 percent of the total. The UK government provides necessary support for people to step up and start their innovative business to increase the competition level of the country (www.berr.gov.uk). The Entrepreneur Earlier it was discussed that previously recognized agency theories explains that the investor, ensuring a healthy relationship is highly regarded as a successful investment aspect in an investment (Kelly Hay, 2003). Therefore exploring more about what authors have studied about entrepreneurs and investors is vital. The difference between a formal venture capitalist and a business angel is that a venture capitalist invests looking at the company and its ability to perform (Schramm, 2004). On the other hand the business angel focuses mostly on the entrepreneur to make sure there can be a good business relationship (Mark and Robinson 2000, p138). The entrepreneur is the only key to get the funding needed for a start-up business. As an entrepreneur, it is vital to gain the investors trust and confidence in the business idea. According to (Osnabrugge Robinson 2000, p123), it is cited that during a business start-up there is a high percentage of entrepreneurs failing to make good management decisions in the initial stages. It is very sensible for an entrepreneur to seek a business angel as they pay special interest on the business they invest in with all their resources including non-financial contributions. It could help fill all the management weaknesses of an initial stage of the business and sav e huge amounts of consulting and managerial costs (Mason and Stark, 2004). Entrepreneur Evaluation (Osnabrugge Robinson, 2000) had explained that entrepreneurs should be aware that the investor not only pays attention on the business proposition but also the entrepreneur himself to ensure the safety, confidence, enthusiasm and the ability to depend on the entrepreneur. Trust is something investors work hard to find in an entrepreneur, because they invest large amounts of financial resources on a person they met in a short period of time (Osnabrugge Robinson 2000, p125). According to a study conducted by Stedler and Peters; entrepreneurs capability to convince the business angel to invest is very important and showed that 81% of business angels has expressed that a positive first impression established in the first meeting as important (Stedler and Peters, 2000). When it comes to angel investment decisions being made, business angels need to ensure that the entrepreneur should be a proficient manager (Gerald and Joel, 2000). Loyalty, leadership, reliability and personality are important characteristics that angel investors look into when they evaluate entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur should be able to have those qualities to gain an influence of the investor (Aernoudt 1999 Sappa 2006). The characteristics that separate a good ownership from a poor is, that if the entrepreneur is able to establish trust and leadership skills with confidence and make the employees follow him/her (Micah Baldwin 2007). Investors find it comforting to know that the entrepreneurs have invested partly on the business before seeking external investment. This gives the investor the idea that the entrepreneur has given all the effort in the involvement of the process and that the financial value of the business is appreciated (Osnabrugge Robinson 2000, p127). According to (Sappa 2006), business angels take lots of time and effort into finding out background information on the entrepreneur to ensure that the owner has the right expertise to manage the business he proposes. (Haines and Riding 1998) corroborates furthermore by adding that the entrepreneur sharing his/her previous business experiences and being much more practical about the business brings more information and confidence to the investor. Finally all the above characteristics that were discussed are very important for a new start-up entrepreneur to influence investments from professional business angels. Business Angels As we have gone through the theories of business angels it is important to know who business angels are in the minds of researchers. A business angel is a highly prosperous individual who can be a business person and willing to invest part of his/hers finance on a promising entrepreneur who has a potential to succeed (Isakssin 2000, Helle 2004). According to (Harrison Manson, 1999), there are three eras of business angel researches conducted in the investment business: First era of business angel research was conducted by United States of America in early 1980s. Authors like; (Landstrom, 1993) from Sweden and (Harrison Manson, 1992) from United Kingdom repeated the same work by giving out similar results. In this era it was solely concentrated on business angels thoughts, activities and characteristics (Freear, Sohl Wetzel, 2002). Second era enabled researchers to go deep into business angels by investigating their post investment involvements. Theory building up and applying for business angels began in this era. Although there were theories built for business angels, it wasnt developed enough to be completely suitable for the activities of angel investors (Connolly et al., 2006). Third era will be the era about the future researches of business angels. There were many faults in the previous researches done and they need to be taken in a new direction to make sure the researches investigated will produce good results (Arenius Minniti, 2005). This would finally make us understand the minds of business angels and match the Business angel – Entrepreneur relationship under changing economy, culture competition (Connolly, OGorman Bogue, 2006). By the help of (Harrison Mason) Swedish researchers like (Sorheim 2005) will enable to investigate on the changing environment of Business angels. This also mean that the theories being found in the previous eras could finally be developed enough to apply on the business angels current investment methods and get positive results (Gompers Lerner, 2007). Characteristics Of Business Angels Almost all the business angels who actively invest on new businesses have few common characteristics. They all have the main motive to increase the potential of their financial capital (Duxbary, Haines Riding 1996). But (Landstrom 1993, Osnabrugge and Robinson 2000) explained that all business angels should not be profiled in a similar way because cultures and person to person could make them different to each others ways in terms of making a personal investment decision. Although there could be many differences between business angels, (Osnabrugge and Robinson, 2000) also stated that there are general motives behind all business angels when it comes to a certain result they expect out of an investment. When Venture capitalists and business angels are taken together it is wide clear that Business angels are individuals who prefer to invest less financial capital than of the formal investors who invest large amounts. Business angels also prefer to invest their money mainly on initial stages of a business (Osnabrugge and Robinson 2000). When it comes to formal investors, they are selective in industries they invest on depending on a lot of information and research. But the Business angels invest on the entrepreneur regardless of what industry sector the business idea would succeed on. They do little research on the industry but heavy research on the entrepreneur they expect to build a trust worthy relationship, because they depend on the entrepreneur mu ch more than the venture capitalists that only rely on the market and the performance of the company (Osnabrugge and Robinson 2000, p63). Furthermore a research conducted in the Norwegian angel market and studies conducted in the US have identified several angel categories. There could be cultural and economical differences among countries like (UK, Sweden Singapore) but angel investors do have likely investment standards in those countries (Landstrom 1993). (Freeny, Haines Riding 1998) explained that the markets which business angels are currently active are where they are wiling to invest more on. There could be many differences in Business angels personalities and points of views of the whole investment process. There are studies that showed the â€Å"most regular business angel†. It is stated that the age, where successful individuals decide to invest their money on a business is when they get to their 50s. This shows that it is almost a retirement phase from a business point of view. This can be confirmed by a research carried out in Germany where it stated that 95% of BAs were male individuals, 56% were directors or owners of their businesses and 17% were individuals who were in the director board on other organizations (Stedler Peters, 2003). Even (Osnabrugge and Robinson 2000, p156) supported Stedler and Peters by explaining that the individuals were in director posts and had good business experiences before they decide to move on into personal investments. Most business angels involve themselves heavily during the initial stages of start-up businesses. They wish to invest near to their homes to make sure of convenience. And Business angels are well educated, wealthy beyond a certain average and expect to have a good life with their feet up on a desk holding a glass of wine, which we all hope to achieve one fine day (Freeny, Haines Riding 1998). Although this thesis aims to look at the characteristics of UK business angels, it was clear by all previous studies that there are common statistics about their decisions and behaviors. This tells us that, UK angel investors too are not far from what was described before in the theories. Still it is important to point out few common characteristics of UK business angels; Common Characteristics Of UK Business Angels According to (Ardichvili et al., 2002), Business angels in the UK have been or still are active business owners. They invest in more similar markets to what they are operating in, which saves them a lot of time trying to understand the market and the operations. Like all business angels, UK investors are highly motivated by the return of their investments and the effort (non financial motives) they have put in to the start-up business. They do enjoy being a part of a new business hoping to succeed for the better part of the community and the country (Landstrom 1993). Furthermore UK business angels prefers and makes sure they invest on new businesses that they could visit regularly, which means they invest in promising firms which will locate geographically near to where they reside (Ardichvili et al., 2002). BAs would rather invest in firms within their residing area, than investing in a location where they find it hard to meet the entrepreneur even though it would double their investments (Harrison, Mason Robson, 2003). Most British angels prefer their entrepreneurs operate within 100 miles of their homes although investors who invested on technological businesses are willing to travel long distances (www.bbaa.org.uk). According to Mason, British angels mostly prefer to invest on small businesses during its initial stages where it is not too late to put in not just their finance sources but their advice and experience to get things on the right track. This, in a way gives them satisfaction of being a part of a promising business (Mason, 2002). After going through the common characteristics of British Angel Investors, it is quite clear that there isnt a major difference compared with the international countries like Sweden and Denmark which will be discussed later. We discussed about Business angels and it is vital to know the categories of their investments. Investment Aspects Of A Business Angel One of the objectives of this thesis is to find out how Business angels in UK and other similar countries decide to invest on a certain investment they find it promising. An investor looking for good reasons to decide on an investment is known as Investment Aspects or Investment Criteria (Landstrom, 1993). It is a way of evaluating the business and the entrepreneur to ensure the security and the profitability of the business proposal. According to the venture capitalism and angel investment comparison carried out by (Osnabrugge Robinson 2000), it revealed that although there were similarities among their attributes in their investment standards there were a certain amount of dissimilarities which makes business angels favorites for a new start up business. For an example, venture capitalists are prepared to invest almost in all stages of a business and therefore they look into all the past and probable financial records of the company. On the other hand the business angels much prefer to invest on a start-up phase of a new business where past financial experiences are not so important to them (Osnabrugge Robinson 2000). Most business angels give similar priorities to investment aspects, when it comes to making a decision. With much researches conducted over the past years (Osnabrugge Robinson 2000) has come up with a selected summary that illustrates the criteria of an investment. The following (Table 1) of twenty-five selective factors are prioritized by well known angel investors; Priority order Priority factors for an investment 1 passion of the industrialist 2 Dependability of the industrialist 3 Sales prospective of the product 4 proficiency of the industrialist 5 Entrepreneur(s) first impression 6 Development prospective of the market 7 Quality of the product 8 Benefits

Color processing in the primates Essay -- Biology, Visual System, Colo

Color is a feature that is possessed by very few mammals. K .Tansely in one of his books on visual system the vision in vertebrates commented that â€Å"On the whole mammals appear not to have color vision, except for the primates where it is well developed and almost certainly trichomatic†. The word trichomatic was derived from a theory given by French physiologist Palmer in 1777 which stated the presence three different types of infinite number of molecules present in the human retina. These types are for detection of colors like red, blue and yellow. Few years later Thomas Young postulated the presence of three types of cones which are responsible for the detection of these primary colors or metamers and their concept of empirically proven by Maxwell in 1860. This trichomatic nature of perception of human retina seemed a limitation as human eye can perceive millions of colors. These millions of colors are limited to a Grassman’s laws explained additive, scalar and associative properties of metamers to prove the different combinations of colors perceived by visual system. The human range of perception of light is from 380nm to 760nm. The perception of color depends upon photo-receptors ability to segregate different wavelength. The Bowmaker et al in 1979 was able to identify the cone using micro-spectrometry by seeing cone absorption spectrum.The cones were in blue, green and red spectrum with wavelength of 420nm, 534 nm and 564 nm. The rod that was identified absorbed the spectrum at 498 nm. The results on the absorption spectrum were quite similar to the results found on Rhesus monkey by the same author. *Bowmaker et al. The name given to cones on the absorption spectrum are S(Short), L(Long) and (M) moderate . T... ...gnocellular pathway cells is shown by grey cells.(Martin 2004) The third and the smallest layer is Koniocellular that is present between the Parvocellular and magnocellular consist mainly of inter-neurons. The blue-ON cells form a connection with small bistratified ganglion cells and it ends in Koniocellular cells. These small size neurons project into supragranular layer 2, 3 and upper part 4 including the cytochrome oxidase rich ‘blob’ region of visual cortex. *Sampling density of blue-ON cells relative to the S-cone array is shown by white circles.(*Martin 2004) There is unknown pathway that begins from wide receptive field yellow-ON ganglion cells and ends at unknown destination in Lateral Geniculate Nucleus. *The small white circle at position of S-cone represents the postulated midget blue-OFF cells ganglion cells. (Martin 2004) Color processing in the primates Essay -- Biology, Visual System, Colo Color is a feature that is possessed by very few mammals. K .Tansely in one of his books on visual system the vision in vertebrates commented that â€Å"On the whole mammals appear not to have color vision, except for the primates where it is well developed and almost certainly trichomatic†. The word trichomatic was derived from a theory given by French physiologist Palmer in 1777 which stated the presence three different types of infinite number of molecules present in the human retina. These types are for detection of colors like red, blue and yellow. Few years later Thomas Young postulated the presence of three types of cones which are responsible for the detection of these primary colors or metamers and their concept of empirically proven by Maxwell in 1860. This trichomatic nature of perception of human retina seemed a limitation as human eye can perceive millions of colors. These millions of colors are limited to a Grassman’s laws explained additive, scalar and associative properties of metamers to prove the different combinations of colors perceived by visual system. The human range of perception of light is from 380nm to 760nm. The perception of color depends upon photo-receptors ability to segregate different wavelength. The Bowmaker et al in 1979 was able to identify the cone using micro-spectrometry by seeing cone absorption spectrum.The cones were in blue, green and red spectrum with wavelength of 420nm, 534 nm and 564 nm. The rod that was identified absorbed the spectrum at 498 nm. The results on the absorption spectrum were quite similar to the results found on Rhesus monkey by the same author. *Bowmaker et al. The name given to cones on the absorption spectrum are S(Short), L(Long) and (M) moderate . T... ...gnocellular pathway cells is shown by grey cells.(Martin 2004) The third and the smallest layer is Koniocellular that is present between the Parvocellular and magnocellular consist mainly of inter-neurons. The blue-ON cells form a connection with small bistratified ganglion cells and it ends in Koniocellular cells. These small size neurons project into supragranular layer 2, 3 and upper part 4 including the cytochrome oxidase rich ‘blob’ region of visual cortex. *Sampling density of blue-ON cells relative to the S-cone array is shown by white circles.(*Martin 2004) There is unknown pathway that begins from wide receptive field yellow-ON ganglion cells and ends at unknown destination in Lateral Geniculate Nucleus. *The small white circle at position of S-cone represents the postulated midget blue-OFF cells ganglion cells. (Martin 2004)

My Brother Jack :: essays research papers

MY BROTHER JACK 1.There are numerous reasons why this novel is titled My brother Jack. The title My Brother Jack deludes the reader in thinking the novel is based on Jack, yet we find that the prevailing concern is not ‘My Brother Jack’ at all. The title suggests a rewriting of Jack’s life. The novel is also called My Brother Jack because of the fact that the author George Johnston, portrayed as David had a brother named Jack, with whom he shared a good relationship with and was also a prominent person in his life. Since Jack is the person in whom David has the greatest sense of identity and reverence, it may well be an appropriate title. In the novel My Brother Jack David often writes about Jack and recapitulates the episodes of his life with Jack. This is evident in a statement David made about his brother as he was travelling on a train. ‘I saw him suddenly as a find of sunburnt Icarus, a freeman, buoyant and soaring in his own air, in the clear and boundless space of an element families yet new’ (pg 294). It is evident through examples, why the novel was called ‘My Brother Jack’. The title may suggest an account of Jack’s life through the eyes of David. The perception you get is that Jack’s life is of greater importance than David’s. Shifting the novel focus from his own inadequacies, George Johnston tries to in fact get the reader to confront these issues. 2. George Johnston uses the theme of deception all through the novel, through the character of David Meredith. David was the most deceitful character in the novel. He did not care who he hurt on the way to getting away from his plain and mediocre life. David basically hurt everyone in his life that ever cared about him. George Johnston used the theme of deception when David continuously deceived his parents. He lied to his parents about the paintings being his own when they were only a lithograph of Tom Middleton’s work. ‘…I would also bring printed samples of work that Tom Middleton had done, and say that I had lithographed them;’ (pg 83). Through the lies that David told and the pain that he caused it is quite clear that George Johnston has used the theme of deception throughout the novel. 3. There is an obvious contrast between his outer success and his inner failure.

Essay --

800 words - Christiana Aiyeola Priority Seats Are Like Marmite; You Either Love Them, or You Hate Them. The number of people that see priority seats is ever growing every day. These seats are located the front of most buses asking regular passengers to relocate the other seats nearer the back of the bus. The debatable subject about it is, ‘Are they really needed? Wouldn’t we already give up our seats for the elderly?’ So I ask; Priority seats - Manner or Menace? Whether or not you believe that priority seats are needed to tell us what we already know; those who regularly take the bus to school or work will have undoubtedly experienced sitting in a priority seat. There is a certain feeling of nervousness that you experience, as you carefully keep an eye on the front door, steadily waiting on the edge of your seat, expecting the arrival of an OAP. Next, one of two things happens – one enters, or one doesn’t. Either way you are left pondering one question: ‘Why did I ever sit here in the first place?’ If a senior member of the public does enter you are forced to transfer all of your belongings elsewhere; if one doesn’t, your trip is ruined anyway since your peaceful journey has been interrupted by your constant watch of the front door. The truth is, even though priority seats are not made to make you feel guilty, they accomplish his by just existing. They are supposed to guarantee a safe and comfortable journey for all. Instead, they do the complete opposite by ensuring that those who do not harbour some sort of disability or are not of old age have to suffer from disapproving looks from other passengers as well as an indecisive inner conscience. This is unacceptable. Are we are better off without them? The British public are not s... ...ere so much kerfuffle over one seat you ask? Simple - there is a bigger more philosophical idea behind the priority seat. Yes, it does sound ridiculous - though it makes sense. Society has created yet another item that was supposed to be put to good use, but has been spoiled by those who have chosen to take notice of its correct purpose. Can we ever create an item solely to have a good function? Priority seats have a good idea behind them, but until we become a more civilised society, they will never show their true colours. Our solution is simple: we teach our kids manners when they are young, so that soon there will be no need for priority seats. In my opinion, I think the future is pretty bleak for them as they are the result of much conflict, though I can’t decide whether we need them. It all goes back to the main question; Priority seats – Manner or Menace? Essay -- 800 words - Christiana Aiyeola Priority Seats Are Like Marmite; You Either Love Them, or You Hate Them. The number of people that see priority seats is ever growing every day. These seats are located the front of most buses asking regular passengers to relocate the other seats nearer the back of the bus. The debatable subject about it is, ‘Are they really needed? Wouldn’t we already give up our seats for the elderly?’ So I ask; Priority seats - Manner or Menace? Whether or not you believe that priority seats are needed to tell us what we already know; those who regularly take the bus to school or work will have undoubtedly experienced sitting in a priority seat. There is a certain feeling of nervousness that you experience, as you carefully keep an eye on the front door, steadily waiting on the edge of your seat, expecting the arrival of an OAP. Next, one of two things happens – one enters, or one doesn’t. Either way you are left pondering one question: ‘Why did I ever sit here in the first place?’ If a senior member of the public does enter you are forced to transfer all of your belongings elsewhere; if one doesn’t, your trip is ruined anyway since your peaceful journey has been interrupted by your constant watch of the front door. The truth is, even though priority seats are not made to make you feel guilty, they accomplish his by just existing. They are supposed to guarantee a safe and comfortable journey for all. Instead, they do the complete opposite by ensuring that those who do not harbour some sort of disability or are not of old age have to suffer from disapproving looks from other passengers as well as an indecisive inner conscience. This is unacceptable. Are we are better off without them? The British public are not s... ...ere so much kerfuffle over one seat you ask? Simple - there is a bigger more philosophical idea behind the priority seat. Yes, it does sound ridiculous - though it makes sense. Society has created yet another item that was supposed to be put to good use, but has been spoiled by those who have chosen to take notice of its correct purpose. Can we ever create an item solely to have a good function? Priority seats have a good idea behind them, but until we become a more civilised society, they will never show their true colours. Our solution is simple: we teach our kids manners when they are young, so that soon there will be no need for priority seats. In my opinion, I think the future is pretty bleak for them as they are the result of much conflict, though I can’t decide whether we need them. It all goes back to the main question; Priority seats – Manner or Menace?

Do Not Count Your Chickens Before They Are Hatched

This is a famous story that a man was very poor and lived hand to mouth. Happy go lucky, he earned a gold coin. He was very glad by that and started ejecting his future. He dreamed that by selling this gold coin, he will buy several chickens which then lead to a poultry farm. With so much earning with the poultry he will buy cows and goats and as it seems, he will become very rich soon! While he was in the state of highest level of expectations, he was so deeply sank into the sea of never ending wishes that he didn’t see main-hole opened. His foot intersected with it and he fallen and that gold coin ran to the main-hole. All his dreams shattered and the castles he built in air ended in smoke. Although the story is quite humoristic but there are lessons in it. Say you have 6 eggs, and you invest in feed and a cage large enough to feed and house 6 chickens, but only 1 egg hatches. There goes most of your investment down the drain. All events happen in a line. For example, you first get the job, and then you buy the car. Not the other way around. The phrase tries to explain that you should not think about the car until you get the job. In the case of the chicken, you should first focus on hatching the eggs before you focus on how much money you are going to make from selling the chickens. While looking ahead is wise but it is foolishness that one would start enjoying and thinking things before they happen or simply become closet-strategist. One must not, also confuse serpentine wisdom with day-dreaming. Suppose we are planning a trip to Northern Areas of Pakistan and estimate the budget, plan the routes or possible stops or booking advance the hotels etc. , this is outlook or planning, which in turn can save us from many troubles. On the other hand if we think in such a way that what games we are going to play? How much enjoyment we will be having? What will we do if we see the snowfall? Will we throw snow balls at each other? This is dreaming which can cause disappointments or upsetting. The conclusion is we should not think about the future before we reach it or simply don’t count things if you don’t have them yet because its consequences may not be the same as we think. A great many of the problems faced by the world these days is due to this reason.

Digital Signatures

Signature is an important aspect of any document or agreement between two parties. Only handwritten signatures are valid for legal documents. The modern world is currently doing lot of proposals and agreements through computers and internet. In order to use in the online documents, technologists has developed a new signature method called digital signature. This paper examines the technology, validity and reliability of digital signatures Introduction Digital signature is an electronic signature which is used to identify the validity of a document.With the help of digital signature one can verify that the message he received is original and unchanged. Nobody can reject the fatherhood of a message if it is signed digitally. Digital signature is a process which involves some kind of encryption and decryption of data. The person who sends the message will encrypt the message which can be decrypt only by the addressee. â€Å"A digital signature is a â€Å"stamp† places on the dat a which is unique to somebody, and is very difficult to forge.In addition, the signature assures that any changes made to the data that has been signed cannot go undetected. † (David Youd) Digital signatures 3 Digital signature – Technology â€Å"After creating a document, using special software one can obtain a message hash (mathematical summary) of the message. Then using a private key obtained from a public-private key authority, the message is been hashed. This encrypted hash is the digital signature of the message.The receiver of the message makes a hash of the received message to ensure the validity of the message. He will then make use of the public key provided by the sender to decrypt the message hash. If the hashes matched, then the received message is valid. † (Digital signature) Legality of Digital signature Many countries like, US, European Union, and Australia have approved digital signatures legally just like other handwritten signature documents. Most of the e-commerce activities are making use of digital signatures to authenticate the documants.â€Å"Stimulated by the development of the American Bar Association Digital Signature Guidelines, electronic signature legislation began with the Utah Digital Signature Act, which was enacted in 1995 and focused solely on issues raised by cryptography-based digital signatures. Soon thereafter, legislation was introduced in several other states† (Thomas J. Smedinghoff and Ruth Hill Bro) Digital signatures 4 Issues and concerns of digital signatures Like most of the other secure documents have suffered by the intrusion of hackers, digital signature technology is also under the constant threats from the e-frauds.â€Å"How do you verify the actual consent and authority of a person relating to these new electronically-signed transactions, or know that the electronic signature wasn't stolen from a PC by some inside or outside entity? † (Lauren Weinstein) Conclusion Digital si gnatures are extensively used in e-commerce activities. It is legally approved in many countries just like the hand written signatures. Like most of the other secure documents in internet, the digital signatures are also under threat from intruders or hackers.