Wireless Communication: Applications and Limitations

Wireless Communication: Applications and Limitations Wireless Communications INTRODUCTION First of all, the meaning of wireless must be clearly identified: Wireless communications are the technology that uses any type of waves to substitute the use of cables and wires in order to create links (or a certain kind of connectivity) between different devices; such waves can be radio waves, infrared waves, or microwaves. Even though many people think that wireless communication is a new form of technology, the truth is that many devices that already existed for many decades use wireless technology, in one way or another, to accomplish the tasks or to deliver the services that they were designed for. Such devices include radio and television transmission-reception devices, military communication devices and many more. Mostly, such technology was being utilised only by governments and large organisations. The difference that appeared in the last few years is the one that involves computer systems and other related pieces of equipment and that which involves telephony and communications, which made it possible for individuals and small and medium organisations to have access to such technology and to be able to use it for specific and personalised uses. WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS Today, wireless communications are growing steadily in almost all sectors, which include home and individual uses, organisational and governmental uses, and scientific and research institutional uses as well. This is evident in every aspect of connectivity that is present and that is available for each person of us; mobile phones (especially those classified as smart-phones) are the most wide-spread devices that utilise wireless communications for almost all the requirements that wireless technology provides; this includes wireless voice connections, data and messaging connections, and multimedia (audio and video) exchange links. For those devices to be able to accomplish that, they cover most of the types of frequencies that are available through the use of technologies such as infrared, Bluetooth, WiFi, GSM and much more. Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) are the most significant technological advancement since the beginning of the computer (and the Internet) age. Such technology provides the possibility of active connectivity to companies, universities, schools, research institutions, and even entities of a far smaller nature. A growing number of homes is now applying WLANs because it can provide the users with the same kind of service without the need for cables. Prasad and Ruggieri (2003) give more details about WLANs by stating that â€Å"WLAN systems are a technology that can provide very high data rate applications and individual links (e.g., in company campus areas, conference centers, airports) and represents an attractive way of setting up computers networks in environments where cable installation is expensive or not feasible. They represent the coming together of two of the fastest-growing segments of the computer industry: LANs and mobile computing, thus recalling the attention of equipment manufactures. This shows their high potential and justifies the big attention paid to WLAN by equipment manufacturers. Whereas in the early beginning of WLANs several proprietary products existed, nowadays they are mostly conform to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE) 802.11b (also known as Wi-Fi) standard. It operates in the unlicenced 2.4-GHz band at 11 Mbps and it is currently extended to reach 20 Mbps.† When talking about wireless computer connectivity, it must be stated that there are two methods in which it operates today. The first is the â€Å"Ad Hoc mode, or Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS). This is a peer-to-peer wireless network. This means that it does not have an access point controlling the conversation.† This method is usually used for small networks which consist of five or less users. Its point of access which â€Å"manages the conversions is gone and the clients send beacons to each other These beacons contain a timer synchronization function (TSF) to ensure that the timing is correct. This function is usually handled in the access point.† The second method is â€Å"the Infrastructure mode, which is called Extended Basic Service Set (EBSS). This is the main type of wireless network. In an EBSS, an access point controls all traffic. Setting up a wireless network in this category requires a piece of networking equipment referred to as an access point. This access point is where the Ethernet data is converted into a wireless signal that is then transferred out through the access point’s antenna. To hear and understand this signal, a wireless network interface card is needed. This card has a small antenna inside it and can hear the wireless signal and transfer it to the computer† (Earle, 2006). As is the case for what concerns wired computer networks, wireless networks are either Wide Area Networks (WAN) or Local Area Networks (LAN). As for the wireless LANs, Vacca (2003) explains that â€Å"wireless data local-area networks (WiFi LANs) have surged in popularity. WiFi LANs provide network access only for approximately 300 ft around each access point, but provide for bandwidth up to 11 Mbps for the IEEE 802.11b protocol, and up to 100 Mbps for the emerging 802.11a protocol. Best of all, the technology is available now and affordable† and the author explains that their reduced cost of deployment, compared to that of the wired LANs, made them more attractive in what concerns the enlargement of corporate networks to other locations: â€Å"The wireless data LAN is a ‘nice and clean’ extension to an office’s wired LAN. Wireless data LANs are attractive to offices that want to enable workers to take laptops into a conference room. Wireless data has a place now† According to the author, â€Å"WiFi is especially popular in the manufacturing, distribution, and retail industries† Liska (2003) explains that the main purpose of using wireless WAN technology is to enable the connection to the Internet and to allow the connection between different offices (of a certain company, for example) that are located in different geographical locations. The author states that â€Å"Wireless WANs have emerged as a low-cost alternative to a traditional method of Internet access. Wireless WAN connection can offer the same amount of bandwidth as a T1, at a fraction of the cost. Wireless connections are also being deployed in areas where cable and DSL access is not available.† Another form of wireless networks is the Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN). In this type, the infrastructure network is not required as there is no need for a central link (or main connection of reference) as the connection is created between specific small devices and users within a given location. The main basic idea behind personal area network is the possibility to inter-connect two or more user-devices within a space of small coverage (that is not more than 10m) where ad hoc communication takes place which is also called personal operating space (POS). â€Å"The network is aimed at interconnecting portable and mobile computing devices such as laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), peripherals, cellular phones, digital cameras, headsets, and other electronics devices† (Prasad and Ruggieri, 2003). To give more details about this kind of wireless network, Vacca (2003) states that â€Å"the term ad hoc connectivity refers to both the ability for a device to assume either master or slave functionality and the ease in which devices may join or leave an existing network. The Bluetooth radio system has emerged as the first technology addressing WDPAN applications with its salient features of low power consumption, small package size, and low cost. Wireless data rates for Bluetooth devices are limited to 1 Mbps, although actual throughput is about half this data rate. A Bluetooth communication link also supports up to three voice channels with very limited or no additional bandwidth for bursty wireless data traffic.† For what concerns the standards of wireless networking, we find that for many years the systems were dependant on manufacturers, and this created problems regarding the compatibility of different systems with one another; that is why many standards are now present for use with the wireless systems. â€Å"This made the industry push the IEEE to make some wireless standards and help facilitate the growth of wireless with common standards that allowed various manufacturer cards to work with various manufacturer wireless networks† The standards used today include the 802.11 standard which â€Å"was the first WLAN standard accepted by multiple vendors as a true industry standard,† Other standards are 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11c, and the 802.11g which was approved by the IEEE in 2003. There are other standards such as â€Å"The 802.11i standard [which is] a security standard that can apply to other 802.11 standards† and there is the 802.11j which is â€Å"for use in Jap an only† (Earle, 2006). According to Pallato (2004), a unified 802.11n Wi-Fi will be widely used soon. The 802.11n â€Å"is based on a new radio technology called MIMO (multiple input/multiple output) that allows the transmission of up to 100M bps over a much wider range than the earlier versions.† This will certainly be a step in the right direction in attempting to unify all the wireless standards into one technology that can be accessible to everyone anywhere. But this unification is facing problems and delays: Reardon (2006) explains that â€Å"the new standard that will allow notebook users to connect to wireless access points at much faster speeds than is currently available [will be delayed].. The IEEE approved a draft version of the standard called 802.11n, after much controversy and infighting among chipmakers. A second draft was due for the standard by late fall of this year [2006], but now a new draft won’t likely be ready until January 2007. This could push back the final ratifica tion of the standard until 2008 The delay in adopting a standard has been caused by the nearly 12,000 changes to the draft that have been submitted to the standards group†. The future of the wireless communications technologies is promising; this is because more mobility and speed are the most required factors in what concerns inter-connectivity, they are certainly more desired than the wired options, especially that the cost and the security options are being improved constantly. â€Å"Though still an imperfect technology, wireless data LANs are, nonetheless, booming and remain at least one market segment that’s expected to achieve its anticipated growth rate. IDC forecasts worldwide wireless data LAN semiconductor revenue alone to grow at a 30 percent compound annual growth rate during the next 4 years. And, 68 percent of networking solution providers already deploy wireless data LANs and WANs† (Vacca, 2003). As can be seen by now, wireless technologies are becoming more requested and more used by all sectors of users, from large organisations to schools to home and office users. The overwhelming success of the mobile phone devices (especially the smart-phones with the possibility to have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Infrared links) will force the industry to grow faster and to provide the instruments and the hardware needed for its propagation for lower prices. One of the emerging realities of today is what is called ‘Wi-Fi covered towns’: The more hotspots (or Wi-Fi access points) there will be available in homes, offices, coffee shops, restaurants, and bookstores, the more the ‘covered city’ concept can be put to practice. And with the arrival of the $100-smarphone by the year 2008, more and more people will find themselves directly inside the wireless age. Some are already talking about providing the Wi-Fi service through traditional radio frequencies, and with that , what we were accustomed to in what concerns TV reception can be used for wireless connections to the internet, and through that to the entire world. According to Long (2006), â€Å"One of the latest WLAN technologies [and one of those that are expected to flourish within the next 5 years], MIMO, or multiple-input multiple-output, splits the connection workload [within a LAN] into multiple data streams for increased range and throughput. Another technology, OFDM, or orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, is a technique for transmitting large amounts of digital data over radio waves.† The future of communications is already known: Every individual will be able to get connected to any group of users he/she chooses, will be connected to his work network on the move and at his home and even when he/she is on vacation with no PDA or laptop. This is why the future seems to be revolving around the WPANs. The Wireless network installation and application will be extremely cheap that continuing with wired networks will be totally unacceptable by all means. APPLICATIONS Even if the beginning of the wireless applications was focused on applications related to vertical markets such as retail, warehousing, and manufacturing, â€Å"current growth is being driven by other market segments. These include enterprise, small office/home office, telecommunications/Internet service provider (ISP) and the public access throughput compared to cellular mobiles networks are the lead drivers for wireless LAN deployment. Voice over IP (VoIP) is also expected to drive this technology in the future† (Smyth, 2004). Vacca (2003) explains that an entire range of applications and services are either dependent on wireless technology or are to be deployed depending on it. The author mentions the service of Triangulation which can be (and is being) used to locate the position of a mobile device through measuring the distance from two or more known points. Another application is Assisted GPS for determining the exact geographic position of the device in use. One important service that is also mentioned is the High-Resolution Maps service. Another important application of wireless networks is the one given to rural areas and locations where no cable or wire related new technologies can reach, for this the wireless technology can be deployed through satellite. â€Å"A new breed of satellite technologies and services allows providers to bring high-speed, always-on, two-way access to the planet’s farthest reaches. For example, McLean, Virginia–based StarBand Communications (a joint venture of Israeli satellite powerhouse Gilat Satellite Networks, EchoStar Communications, and Microsoft) is the first company to launch two-way consumer service in the United States.† The potentials for wireless applications are endless in virtually all sectors. Such applications can be used for workers and sales employees, for warehouse personnel who order parts, for accountants who generate invoices, and for transportations companies such as DHL and UPS. â€Å"New applications are appearing at an ever-increasing rate. Mobile workers, such as salespeople, field service technicians, and delivery people, are an obvious target for new wireless applications. Wireless technology applications can arm these workers with tools and data access capabilities that were previously limited to desk-bound employees† (Hayes, 2003). With wireless communications, data transfer (especially of larger files, such as those related to multimedia audio and video and huge reports and presentations) will become easier whenever the mobile devices become improved in order to utilise higher bandwidths and faster access possibilities. TV and video streaming to wireless devices has already started and the improvements will keep on appearing. There are no limits to the applications of wireless technology. We have already reached the technological know-how that enables us to realise almost all the desired wireless applications, and the cost of their deployment and use will drop until it becomes more common than anything else. Any innovation in the wireless technology camp will be profitable to the manufacturers and desired by the users, mobility is something that is becoming more essential for any organisation or individual that aims at success. â€Å"Wireless Applications are in their Internet infancy and awaiting broader bandwidth. As this becomes available the scope for applications on a cost-per-view basis will increase. Of particular interest for the future are the attempts to commercialize WWW by offering software, which relies on the WWWs free infrastructure to be viable, on pay-per-use basis† (Bidgoli, 2004). PROBLEMS As mentioned earlier, one of the most important problems facing the wireless technology today is the different standards used by different manufacturers, but this is a problem that is supposed to be resolved shortly. The real important issue is security. Earle (2006) mentions some of the security related issues such as Analysis (â€Å"the viewing, recording, or eavesdropping of a signal that is not intended for the party who is performing the analysis†), Spoofing (â€Å"impersonating an authorized client, device, or user to gain access to a resource that is protected by some form of authentication or authorization†), Wireless Denial-of-Service (â€Å"achieved with small signal jammers†), and Malicious Code (which can be used to â€Å"infect and corrupt network devices†). These risks are present in both wireless computer networks and in mobile devices such as mobile phones and PDAs. The major solutions for this are encryption and authentication solutions in various kinds and modalities. But still, the security issue is the most important reason for delay concerning the movement of all the applications and services toward the wireless realm. Another problem is the bandwidth; most mobile devices need to be developed further in order to turn the experience of using them into one that is similar to desktop computers and wired LAN connected devices. Works Cited Prasad, R. and Ruggieri, M. (2003) Technology Trends in Wireless Communications. Boston, MA: Artech House Publishers. Earle, A. E. (2006) Wireless Security Handbook. Boca Raton, FL: Auerbach Publications. Liska, A. (2003) The Practice of Network Security: deployment strategies for production environments. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Vacca, J. R. (2003) Wireless Data Demystified. New York, NY: McGraw-HIll Companies, Inc. Pallato, J. (2004) Unified 802.11n Wi-Fi Standard to Emerge in Mid-2006. eWeek.com.[Accessed 22nd January 2007]. Available from World Wide Web:  http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1735082,00.asp> Reardon, M. (2006). New Wi-Fi standard delayed again. ZDNet Tech News. [Accessed 21st January 2007]. Available from World Wide Web:  http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6105494.html> Long, M. (2006) The Future of Wireless Networks. Newfactor.com. [Accessed 20th January 2007]. Available from World Wide Web:  http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=41852> Smyth, P. (2004) Mobile and Wireless Communications:: Key Technologies and Future Applications. London, UK: The Institution of Electrical Engineers. Hayes, I. S. (2003) Just Enough Wireless Computing. Upper Saddler River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Bidgoli, H. (2004) The Internet Encyclopedia. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Sons, Inc. Is it better to be an Assigned or Self-Initiated Expatriate in Japan? Is it better to be an Assigned or Self-Initiated Expatriate in Japan? Research Question: Is it better to be an Assigned or Self-Initiated Expatriate in Japan? Technology is the backbone of this ever-evolving generation. Japan is not only one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, but, is also an internationally recognized hotspot for people who are looking to expatriate, and to make a promising future in this culturally un-paralleled location. This report will examine the benefits and disadvantages of being either a Company Assigned Expatriate (AE/CAE/OE) or a Self-Initiated Expatriate (SIE) in Japan. Aspects such as; motivation, job satisfaction, cross-cultural adjustment, family factors, compensation, and success factors will be taken into consideration, in this report. To begin the report, it is important to understand what some of the primary differences between assigned expatriates and self-initiated expatriates actually are. First of all, the â€Å"assigned expatriate† refers to a person who is sent abroad to another country, by the company they are working for, or are sponsored by. While, the â€Å"self-initiated expatriate† refers to a person who goes to another country of their choosing, in pursuit of a better life, often trying to find work on their own. A study done by Torsten Biemann and Maike Andresen, found that SIEs â€Å"start their international careers at a younger age, have a higher organizational mobility, and expect higher benefits from international experiences for their future careers† (2010). This implies that SIEs may often be recent graduates, or other young people who do not see much of a career opportunity in their home country, and seek bigger and better things abroad. These expatriates are also more l ikely to change or rethink their career paths, as compared to AEs, since they have more freedom to do what they would like to, as they were not brought into the country from an employer. Also, from leaving their home country, they would have a notion of achieving more, and have a broader list of goals than AEs, as again, nothing is set-up for them to feel like they are limited. They do not feel like career growth only stems from the company that they are linked to, unlike AEs. However, assigned expatriates seem to be more driven by the career factors in accordance to the company that sent them there, and may have more experience than SIEs – which seems to be more attractive to employers. Self-initiated expatriation, in most cases, is not an easy task. It requires much motivation, determination, and the ability to take risks. A SIE has to commit to the idea of leaving everything behind and going off to a foreign country – with some level of uncertainty pertaining to their future. The research done by Jan Selmer and Jakob Lauring discovers that SIEs may be motivated to expatriate because they are either; escaping from unfavourable conditions in their home country – â€Å"the refugee†, seeking financial stability – â€Å"the mercenary†, travelling to a favourable destination – â€Å"the explorer†, or finally, in pursuit of career success – â€Å"the architect† (2012). Furthermore, another study by the two, Jan Selmer and Jakob Lauring, finds that; younger SIEs â€Å"were more motivated by adventure, career and money when choosing to expatriate† (2010). What this means, is that the SIEs that belong to â€Å"the refugee† role, are most often older, may have already started a family, and most likely already have adequate work experience, prior to expatriating. However, self-initiated expatriates still consist of more young people and recent graduates on average, as compared to assigned expatriates. Japan is known for having a relatively low average fertility rate, as compared to the rest of the world (Boling, 2008). This may negatively impact young SIEs that are trying to start a family in Japan. More often, AEs, on the other hand, will go abroad with families they have already started in their home countries. AEs are also less likely to start a family in Japan, as they are aware of the fact that they are only there for a finite amount of time. Therefore, it may not be as big as a problem to AEs, on an average. Assigned expatriates are motivated to go abroad for career driven objectives, and will often not look as the new country (Japan) as â€Å"home†, but rather, a stepping-stone in the projection of their careers. SIEs would more often, treat Japan as a new cultural experience, and will end up staying longer than AEs, or even ind efinitely – unless they do not find success or happiness in Japan. For AEs; â€Å"career-related factors appeared significantly more important to their decision to move abroad, indicating that their desire for an international experience is explicitly coupled with career development and progression† (Doherty, Dickmann, Mills, 2011). This implies that, AEs might not have the same level of appreciation for Japan, as a SEI would, and it may contribute to a significantly less level of enjoyment and fulfillment while abroad. It is also important to understand which roles assigned expatriates and self-initiated expatriates often tend to fill in organizations, upon expatriating. These roles can end up defining or being the highlight of these expatriates’ careers. According to Phyllis Tharenou, the five main purposes of assigned expatriates is to: First, to set up a new operation and establish foreign operations in their early stages; second, to fill a skills gap; third, to develop managers international skills; fourth, to transfer company culture and knowledge to a foreign operation and gain feedback from it; and fifth, to supply the top manager and control the operation and coordinate with headquarters. (2013) This entails that assigned expatriates are given great responsibility and a high position within the organization when expatriated, which also implies that self-initiated expatriates would have to spent more time in the company to work up to that same level, since; â€Å"SIEs are most likely to be: an unsuitable alternative to CAEs for roles requiring firm-specific knowledge† (Tharenou, 2013). This might be the case, even if the AEs and SIEs may have the same or comparable level of education; â€Å"AEs possessed no significant difference in levels of education than SIEs, but were more likely to be in greater positions of authority† (Andresen, Biemann, Pattie, 2015). Unsurprisingly, the greater hierarchical position, leads to greater compensation for AEs on average (Sims Schraeder, 2005). Thus, SIEs are also more likely to be underemployed, since, managers would not be confident enough to trust in the SIEs abilities. This would inevitably cause SIEs to be dissatisfied with their jobs and be alienated from the others in the workplace (Lee, 2005). However, with regards to Japan, it seems as if SIEs obtain more skills that compliment them to have an easier experience of cross-cultural adjustment. Japanese language proficiency seems to be the most important trait in expatriates finding success in Japan. Self-initiated expatriates are much more competent with this skill than assigned expatriates. There may still be language training sessions for AEs, but it is seen as a drag to the management in Japan (Peltokorpi, 2008). This entails that AEs, most likely spend time before expatriating to learn about Japanese culture and the language, and are also likely to spend more time living in Japan than AEs. Thus, they find an easier experience of adjustment to the new culture, since they are prepared for it, in hopes of quickly establishing a successful career abroad. AEs on the other hand, have the sense of security that they will be working immediately upon expatriating. So, they would most likely not go through a lot of preparation for the new culture. However, SIEs would still have to work up to the level of AEs – as mentioned earlier, and would likely contribute to a decreas ed rate of job satisfaction. A study conducted by Fabian Jintae Froese and Vesa Peltokorpi, about expatriates in Japan reaffirms this; â€Å"SIEs suffer from lower job satisfaction because they tend to work more often under HCN (host-country nationals) supervisors regardless of their hierarchical level or the nationality of their employing organizations† (2013). The same studies also found that assigned expatriates and self-initiated expatriates react to cross-cultural adjustment very differently. As established before; AEs see expatriation as an important step in their careers, while, most SIEs take it as an opportunity to appreciate culture and absorb knowledge. SIEs’ increased proficiency in the Japanese language allows them to communicate more with locals, mesh within Japanese culture, and even talk to other expatriates in Japan. While, AEs will remain mostly isolated in their personal lives; â€Å"During their fixed expatriation period in Japan, OEs might be more inclined to interact with other expatriates† (Peltokorpi, 2008). As SIEs interact more with locals; â€Å"they receive information about behavioural norms and the rationale for why people behave in a certain way. The ability to act in an appropriate way and predict the behaviour of others tends to reduce uncertainty and increase psychological comfort† (Pelt okorpi, 2008). This basically means that SIEs will be happier outside of the workspace, as they can enjoy Japanese culture and appreciation for their journey. While, AEs, will be happier in the workspace, as they will have higher positions and be perceived as more successful that SIEs, in the workforce. Another report – by Nancy Napier and Sully Taylor – finds that, expatriating to Japan is a much different experience for women. Due to some of the social patriarchal structures still in place, female self-initiated expatriates will have a harder time to reach the level of, and make as much money as male SIEs – let alone AEs – in an organization. However, female AEs on average, do not face this discrimination, since, they are given and briefed of their position, in their native country, before expatriating. In some cases, women AEs are also offered optional additional cross-cultural training, in order to familiarize themselves with the social contracts and customs of Japan, as they can vary widely from genders and from the constructs and customs of their home country. One problem for female AEs, or AEs in general, can be of repatriation. This report highlights that; â€Å"In one survey of American expatriates, 40 percent said that, on their return to the U nited States, there was no specific job for them†, furthermore; â€Å"another study found that 26 percent of the American expatriates surveyed were actively looking for a different job within one year of returning to the United States† (1996). It is also important to note that this report was a little dated, as it was compiled in 1996; many things could change in a timeframe of almost two decades. To conclude, and to answer the initial research question, both assigned expatriates and self-initiated expatriates have their own unique benefits and setbacks. Preferring to be either an AE or a SIE, depends on what each individual expatriate values in their life. In review, AEs will most likely come to Japan in the pursuit of an increased repertoire and are more driven by career factors. AEs will most likely also start off in a high position (higher than that of a SIE), and in turn, will earn more money, while in Japan. SIEs, on the other hand, can come to Japan for varied reasons, but in order to succeed, they all have to have some skills to help them prepare for this unique culture. Many SIEs have great Japanese-language proficiencies and have a tendency to appreciate the culture and the locals more, as, they will most likely want to stay longer in Japan, than AEs. However, they will usually start off in lower positions, compared to AEs, even though they may have the same level of education. This may lead to them being underemployed and contribute to an overall job dissatisfaction. Women looking expatriate on their own to Japan, also need to consider that they will be facing additional challenges due to the patriarchal structure over there, and may not be happy about their compensation. Thus, may consider expatriating to Japan, through company sponsorship from their native countries. With all of the pros and cons weighted and in consideration, it seems as if being an assigned expatriate may better suit most people’s characteristics. Not many people would like to shift to Japan for life (or most of their lives), thus, assigned expatriation provides a great opportunity to experience Japanese life and culture, while making more money than SIEs, on average. AEs are also given the chance to expatriate elsewhere, and see more of the world after their experience with Japan. SIEs may choose to repatriate to their native countries, but most would choose not to be a SIE again, as they may find it to be too much of a commitment. References: Biemann, T., Andresen, M. (2010). Self-initiated foreign expatriates versus assigned expatriates.Journal of Managerial Psychology,25(4), 430-448. doi:10.1108/02683941011035313 Selmer, J., Lauring, J. (2012). Reasons to expatriate and work outcomes of self-initiated expatriates.Personnel Review,41(5), 665-684. doi:10.1108/00483481211249166 Selmer, J., Lauring, J. (2010), Self-initiated academic expatriates: Inherent demographics and reasons to expatriate. European Management Review, 7:169–179. doi:10.1057/emr.2010.15 Boling, P. A. (2008). Demography, culture, and policy: Understanding Japans low fertility.Population and Development Review,34(2), 307-326. doi:10.1111/j.1728-4457.2008.00221.x Doherty, N., Dickmann, M., Mills, T. (2011). Exploring the motives of company-backed and self-initiated expatriates. International Journal Of Human Resource Management,22(3), 595-611. doi:10.1080/09585192.2011.543637 Doherty, N., Richardson, J., Thorn, K. (2013). Self-initiated expatriation and self-initiated expatriates.Career Development International,18(1), 97-112. doi:10.1108/13620431311305971 Tharenou, P. (2013). Self-initiated expatriates: An alternative to company-assigned expatriates?Journal of Global Mobility,1(3), 336-356. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JGM-02-2013-0008 Andresen, M., Biemann, T., Pattie, M. W. (2015). What makes them move abroad? reviewing and exploring differences between self-initiated and assigned expatriation.The International Journal of Human Resource Management,26(7), 932-947. doi:10.1080/09585192.2012.669780 Sims, R. H., Schraeder, M. (2005). Expatriate compensation.Career Development International,10(2), 98-108. doi:10.1108/13620430510588301 Lee, C. H. (2005). A study of underemployment among self-initiated expatriates.Journal of World Business,40(2), 172-187. doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2005.02.005 Peltokorpi, V. (2007). Intercultural communication patterns and tactics: Nordic expatriates in Japan.International Business Review,16(1), 68-82. doi:10.1016/j.ibusrev.2006.12.001 Peltokorpi, V. (2008). Cross-cultural adjustment of expatriates in Japan.International Journal Of Human Resource Management,19(9), 1588-1606. doi:10.1080/09585190802294903 Froese, F. J., Peltokorpi, V. (2013). Organizational expatriates and self-initiated expatriates: differences in cross-cultural adjustment and job satisfaction.International Journal Of Human Resource Management,24(10), 1953-1967. doi:10.1080/09585192.2012.725078 Taylor, S., Napier, N. (1996). Working in Japan: Lessons from women expatriates.Sloan Management Review,37(3), 76. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/224969161?accountid=14771 1

Personal Life and Perfect Dream Vacation Essay

Almost everyone has their own idea of a dream vacation. It’s the perfect place to get away from the reality of everyday life and the stress that goes along with it, and the choices and ideas of the â€Å"perfect vacation† are as varied as the people who dream about them. Some fantasize about lazing on a warm, sunny beach. Some dream of forests and wildlife, and fresh mountain. So what is my idea of the perfect dream vacation? It’s simple. It’s the place where there are no crowds, everything is familiar, the food is prepared to my specific taste, and the bed is my own. For me, there is no place like home. With a little forethought and planning, even home can be turned in to a dream vacation getaway. A leisurely breakfast is the perfect way to start each vacation day. A plate of fresh fruits, fluffy scrambled eggs, toast with butter, and a cup of hot coffee is sure to chase away that sleepy feeling and energize you for the day ahead. Maybe your favorite breakfast includes a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice, or a bagel with cream cheese and a cup of tea. Perhaps, while on vacation, you would like to try something new and different. Read more: My dream vacation essay Whatever your choice, be sure to take the time to just enjoy it. Of course, no vacation would be complete without a little bit of pampering and a vacation at home is no exception. If there is a spa in your hometown, make an appointment during one (or more) of the days of your scheduled vacation. Or, if you prefer, there are many different stores that sell all kinds of spa type items for use at home.| | My perfect vacation takes place during the warm summer months so a hammock in the back yard is the perfect place for daydreaming. There is nothing more relaxing than lying in a hammock under a shade tree while the gentle breeze of summer drifts over you and your mind wanders, either lost in carefree thought or traveling through the pages of your favorite book. If you don’t have a shade tree or a back yard, any comfortable place where you can sit back and relax will work. You may also choose to spend your time visiting some favorite local attractions or perhaps a leisurely stroll through a park. It really doesn’t matter what you choose to do, as long as you are having fun.. | | Vacationing at home allows you to take it easy and relax without the stress of schedules, travel plans, lost luggage and gas prices. You don’t have to worry about cab fares, or highway traffic. It can be as quiet and peaceful and exciting as you choose to make it. Your vacation at home can be tailor made to your specifications, wants, and desires. All it takes is a little thought, a little planning, and a little determination to make it the perfect dream vacation.| |

Upland environments are too fragile for intensive leisure use

When looking at upland environments I will need to define what is an upland environment. The difficulty which I found was that it was very hard to define what an upland environment is therefore I questioned four geography teachers of what they thought was an upland environment. They replied that an upland environment is an environment, which is above 200 meteres, and these can include national parks and mountain resorts. Intensive leisure use is an area where a lot of leisure activities are taking place by day-trippers. Fragile is a word which describes an area where a lot of activities are taking place but they having a bad effect on the environment therefore making it unsustainable or that environment is easily destroyed by the activities which are taking place e. g. leisure activities. Leisure activities on national parks both have a positive effect and a negative effect. An example of a positive effect maybe its good for a person health and a negative effect could be destruction of footpaths but what should be done is that upland environments need to be made more sustainable therefore they won't be fragile for intensive leisure use. In this essay I will be looking at national parks and mountain resorts in MEDCS and not in LEDCS, as national parks in these countries need more protection from tourists rather than one-day trippers. Also only upper-class people in these countries can afford to visit national parks and rest of population are far to poor to afford the transport and many are too busy working in order to have a living of some kind. The motorways and railway networks are not as good in LEDCS as they are in MEDCS. When I am looking at MEDCS national parks and mountain resorts. I will be looking at the impacts that leisure activities have had on upland environments. I will look both at the positive and negative effects of leisure activities and look at ways in which it could be more sustainable. Finally I will give conclusion whether or not upland environments are too fragile for intensive leisure use. The first area, which I will be looking at, is a national park in the UK. The national park, which will be looking at, is the peak districts and a village called Castleton. Castleton is a honey pot during the months of April- August it receives up to 900 visitors on Sundays. Already you can see the problems that are going to occur. The visitor numbers are so high on Sundays because many people have a day off work on Sundays and the motorways M1 and M62 are very close which makes it easier for people to travel to peak districts and nowadays nearly everyone can afford a car to travel unlike LEDCS where many people cannot afford the transport and do have high disposable income. The cities of Sheffield (493582) and Manchester (438202) are also very close so many of the one day visitors could come from there. This is another reason for the high number of visitors. The months between April and August is that weather conditions are likely to be good for leisure activities to take place therefore more visits are likely to occur putting pressure on the environment. To make it more sustainable they need to make the winter months more attractive and appealing therefore this would even out the number of visitors and less pressure on the environment and less leisure activities wouldn't only be taking part in the spring and summer months. The leisure activities, which take place in the peak district national park, are as follows sightseeing, hiking, riding, cycling, climbing, caving, hang gliding and canoeing. The impact that hiking and site seeing have is that they destroy the footpaths and therefore footpath erosion takes place and heather and other plants are destroyed and litter may be thrown anywhere. What needs to happen is that people need to be aware of these factors like in Malham there are no bins and people have to take the rubbish away themselves. Climbing and caving have another impact as white powder is left on the rocks which climbers use in order to have a better grip. This can erode rocks and the hooks left behind can crack the rocks. Hang gliding is another leisure activity which affects the environment as it takes along run up and this activity doesn't fit the environment it cause visual pollution. The second region, which I am going to look at, is the Banff National Park in Canada and in a state called Alberta. Over 75% of the visitors are Albertianins and the access is made easy by road, railway, buses and plane services to this area. In addition people now have their own cars than they did about 75 years ago this may have resulted in more one day trippers coming to the area. The popular times of the year are the summer months particularly August and September this is similar to the Peak Districts. There are restrictions placed on all visitors as they are charged fees to enter the park in addition there are camping permit fee and a permit fee for fishing unlike the peak Districts as there are no fees for doing these activities. Furthermore there are very dangerous animals such as bears and cougars that could attack the visitors therefore visitors need to be educated about these animals when they are sight seeing. These restrictions do not exist in the peak districts. The leisure activities taking in the Banff National Park are very similar to those of the peak Districts. The leisure activities taking place as follows skiing, snow boarding, other winter sports, sightseeing, hiking, canoeing and camping. Skiing does make the environment more fragile as deforestation has occurred in order to make way for ski runs. This results in habitats being destroyed and more avalanches are going to occur as there are no trees stop them. This could result in more deaths but could benefit them economically as more people are going to spend money on skiing. It will depend on the cost benefit. In order to make more sustainable less trees need to be cut down and winter sports have the same effect as skiing. Hiking and sight seeing may also destroy the footpaths in the park like in the Peak Districts in addition it could disturb the wild animals and plants may be trampled over. Camping may lead to litter thrown everywhere on the grass and this can affect the environment by bear coming getting into the litter either by chewing on coke can or eating ploythene wrapper for sandwiches in addition a fire could occur which result in the destruction of the whole park. This has happened in national parks in the US again destroying habitats for animals and beautiful scenery. The third region I am going to look at is the Mountain resort in north-western region of Italy. It is an alpine region. This region receives a lot of visitors and the main attractions are the skiing resorts. Skinning has brought positive effects to the area and people now have better jobs that are paid more than farming and forestry. Also the standard of living has improved for the local people. Roads, water supplies and sewerage have been improved. The problems that are occurring in this area, is that due to a high demand for skiing more enlarged ski runs are being built but this means that deforestation has occurred at the mountain slopes and furthermore there is an increase in the number of winter sports which has resulted in mountain top soil being eroded away and alpine vegetation has been reduced. All of these actions have resulted in more avalanches as trees have been cleared to make way for the new ski runs. Also the danger flooding has substantially increased during the summer thunderstorms or following snow melt in spring. There are other climatic problems such as some winters the snowfall is light, late in arriving and not lying long at low altitudes which has resulted skiing at higher levels were the environment is more fragile. I will conclude that having looked at each of the different regions for upland environments I have said that upland environments are too fragile for intensive leisure use unless they are made sustainable. Castleton in the Peak Districts needs reduce the number of visitors in the summer either by adding fees. The roads and the vehicles cannot cope with the amount of vehicles in the summer months although efforts have been made to attract visitors to the during the winter months by adding lights furthermore there needs to be a reduction in the number golf courses. At the moment money is brought to the area by these leisure activities but once the environment is destroyed no one will come to the Peak District therefore the economical benefits will disappear. This also goes for Courmayeur as the skiing has brought economical benefits to the area as less people are leaving but once the environments destroyed then the visitors will not come therefore economical benefits will go. People can make National Parks and mountain resorts sustainable now or if they do not make them sustainable then for the future they will be destroyed by the leisure activities taking place and their knock effects in addition to this economic benefits will disappear as well. Evaluation The research, which I have carried out, is secondary research and Primary research could have occurred but I did no have the time and money to go and visit the Banff National Park or Courmayeur. This major downside of this report as the data gathered for primary would have been more accurate and up-to-date.

Does Corporate Governance Drive Financing Decisions Of Saudi Arabian Companies Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 13 Words: 3778 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? Abstract This paper contributes to the corporate governance literature by examining the effect of corporate governance characteristics on financing decisions in Saudi Arabian listed companies. In particular, we examine the effect of board size; ownership concentration and corporate governance reporting on the debt-to-equity ratio. We use a multiple regression model to examine how corporate governance variables affect the extent to which Saudi Arabian companies use debt to finance their activities. We use a sample of 37 companies listed in Saudi Stock Market in January 2006 which is based on a recent paper by Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008) who collected their sample from Saudi listed companies websites between October 2005 and January 2006 representing a total number of 77 companies. This helps us to focus on a group of firms that report corporate governance information on their websites Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Does Corporate Governance Drive Financing Decisions Of Saudi Arabian Companies Finance Essay" essay for you Create order After controlling for companies profitability and their growth opportunities, we find that both board size and ownership concentration are positively associated with debt-to-equity ratio. The findings seem to suggest that managers are likely to choose higher financial leverage when they have stronger corporate governance (large number of directors on the board and higher ownership concentration). However, the empirical results of the relationships are statistically insignificant in the case of corporate governance reporting. This suggests that firms asymmetric information is not an important driver of the financing decision of Saudi Arabian companies. This might be due to the nature of the Saudi business environment. 1. Introduction Capital structure decision is a well established part of the accounting and finance research related to determinants of corporate capital structure. Modigliani and Miller (1958) is the first to study this area of research. They find that capital structure decision is unrelated to firm value. They also relax the prefect market assumptions and consider corporate tax into their models (Miller and Modigliani, 1963). Consequently, they find that firm value will be enhanced if the level of debt increases. They explain their findings by the fact that interest rate is a tax deductible and consequently companies would enjoy debt tax shield when funding their activities by long-term debt. However, Miller and Modigliani (1963) don not taken into account the bankruptcy related costs. A natural area of extending these lines of research is to explore other drivers of corporate capital structure decisions. Previous studies offer evidence that corporate governance variables affect firms capital structure decisions (Wen et al., 2002; Du and Dia, 2005; La Rocca, 2007; Driffield et al., 2007; Al-Najjar and Hussainey, 2009a, 2009b). However, there are a very limited number of studies that have examined determinants of capital structure in developing countries and even fewer such studies may be found in the Middle Eastern countries. To the best of our knowledge, no study yet has examined the influence of corporate governance on capital structure decision in Saudi Arabia or Middle Eastern countries. Consequently, this paper is the first to examine the potential corporate governance factors that might drive Saudi Arabian firms to use debt as the main source of finance. This paper is also motivated by the fact that SACMA issued a guidance in 2006 that recommends all listed companies to disclose corporate governance information to the public. Therefore, it would be worthwhile examining the attitude of companies to volunteer report corporate governance rather than being enforced to do so. The paper proceeds as follows. Sections 2 and 3 review prior research on the determinants of capital structure and develop the research hypotheses. Section 4 discusses the research method. Section 5 is the data description. The main regression results are presented in Section 6. Finally, Section 7 concludes and suggests areas for future research. 2. Literature review For placing the findings of this study within its context, as well as other environments with similar characteristics this section provides a general description of the environment of the Saudi business practices. Several environmental factors affect Saudi business practice, this section, however, will summaries some of the most important environmental factors, as suggested by the literature such as the political, economical, and social systems and the 1965 Company Law that regulates the practice of Saudi businesses and the guidance of corporate governance issued by SACMA in 2006. As similar to most countries in the Middle Eastern region, the early stage of the political, economic and social development in the country makes the environment of the Saudi audit practice significantly different from that in developed countries. The political system of Saudi Arabia is a monarchy, headed by the King. Within the political system, there are three legislative bodies, which have the authority to initiate and/or approve policies, regulation or rules: the Council of Ministers, the Consultative Council, and various individual Ministries. There are various groups within the political system influence major policy issues and the development of new regulations. The main groups are the royal family, Islamic scholars, state officials, liberal elites, academics, tribal leaders and businessmen; all of whom have different interests and different powers depending on the importance of the issue to its interests and affairs (Al-Amari, 1989; Al-Rumaihi, 1997; Aba-Alkhail, 2001; Economist Intelligence Unit, 2003; Al-Nodel 2004). The Basic Law of Government which was introduced in 1992 is considered to be the constitution of the KSA (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2003). As an Islamic country, the legal system of Saudi Arabia is derived from Islamic law (Shariah; Alquran Alkareem and Sunna Alsharifah), and coded laws for a number of specific fields, such as commerce, tax and labour. Al-Amari (1989) reported that Islamic law, however, prevails in legal disputes. Saudi society is heavily influenced by its Arabic heritage and Islamic values (Al-Rumaihi, 1997; Aba-Alkhail, 2001; Al-Nodel 2004). All Saudis are Muslim, and the Arab Peninsula is the birthplace of Islam. Al-Rumaihi (1997) described Saudi society as characterised by the impact of the personality and power of particular individuals, the role of family and friend relationships over regulations, privilege given to personal relationships over tasks, and the existence of a high level of secrecy. The economy of Saudi Arabia is an oil-based economy and government exercises strong controls over major economic activities. It possesses 25% of the worlds proven petroleum reserves, ranks as the largest exporter of petroleum, and plays a leading role in OPEC. Worldwide oil prices and production volumes strongly affect Saudi economy. Since the discovery of oil in 1938, oil revenue represents the biggest contribution to the economy. In 1990s, it accounted for around 35% of nominal GDP, about 75% of government revenues, and 85% of export receipts (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2003). Table 2 presents the countrys budgetary revenues, expenditures and net surplus or (deficit) for the last three years. Insert Table 1 here Noticeable features of the current practice of Saudi companies are the domination of family businesses, the deep involvement of the government in the private sector, and the existence of a number of foreign-owned and controlled companies based on joint venture agreements with domestic companies. The domination of family businesses type in Saudi Arabia is argued by Al-Nodel (2004). He explained that joint-stock companies represent only 1.14% of the total number, and account for less than 40% of the total capital of the registered businesses. The existence of a number of foreign-owned and controlled companies based on joint venture agreements with domestic companies and the involvement of government in businesses represents another significant feature of the Saudi private sector (Presley, 1984; Aba-Alkhail, 2001). The 1965 Company Law regulates the practice of businesses in Saudi Arabia. It sets conditions for establishing businesses, describes the legal framework for business, and requires the publication of annual financial statements audited by an independent party (see also Al-Rehaily, 1992; Aba-Alkhail, 2001 and Al-Nodel 2004). Articles of the 1965 Company Law sets conditions for several aspects of businesses such as legal frameworks through which business companies can be established, the registration requirements, minimum capital to be maintained, number of partners, number of directors, accounts, the annual audit of the accounts, and so on. Shinawi and Crum (1971) asserted that the origin of the 1965 Saudi Company Law goes back to the British Companies Act of 1948. The similarity between the 1965 Saudi Company Law and the UK acts issued in 1948, 1967 and 1976 was also reported by Kahlid (1983). The main features of the 1965 Company Law are the legal frameworks of businesses and the reporting requirements. It provides several legal frameworks through which business companies can be established such as general partnership, joint venture, joint-stock company, limited liability company, and cooperative company[1]. The 1965 Company Law also sets the reporting requirements of businesses. It requires the issuance of a balance sheet, a profit and loss account, and a report on the companys operations and financial position every fiscal year. It further stipulates that all corporations, and limited liability companies must issue annual financial statements audited by an independent auditor licensed to practice by the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The stock market of Saudi Arabia is underdevelopment. In 1984, the Royal Decree No. 81230 was issued as an attempt to officially regulate the stock exchange (Abdeen and Dale, 1984; El-Sharkawy, 2006). Under this Royal Decree, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) was given actual control over the stock exchange through national commercial banks. The significant change was in 2003 when the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (SACMA), which took responsibility from SAMA to oversight the exchange of Saudi stocks, was established (Ramady, 2005). This period observed significant changes with respect to the number of listed companies or market value. Table (3) compares some key numbers of the Saudi stock market between 1996- 2005. Insert Table 2 here In 2006 SACMA intensifies its efforts to provide fairness in the trading of the Saudi stocks. Among these efforts was the issuance of the draft of corporate governance for listed companies in 2006. The draft provides recommendations of the criteria for the best corporate governance practice that should listed companies counsel. It has covered to some extent the main five principles issued by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): the rights of shareholders, the equitable treatment of shareholders, the role of stakeholders in corporate governance, disclosure and transparency, the responsibility of the board of directors. According to the recommendations of SACMA, listed companies are required to report to SACMA about their compliance with the criteria of corporate governance as issued by SACMA or reasons for uncompliance if any. The disclosure contains, for example, the board of directors functions, responsibilities, formation, committees of board of directors; audit committee; Nomination and Remuneration Committee; Meetings of the Board and Remuneration and Indemnification of Board Members[2]. Finally, SACMA asserted that the criteria for the best corporate governance practice mostly constitutes the guiding principles for all listed companies unless any other regulations, laws or rules require such requirement. Although, corporate governance has been the subject for an extensive research in developed countries[3], limited research has been carried out to investigate the issue of corporate governance in business environment of developing countries. Furthermore, those limited research studies approach the issue whether to describe the state of corporate governance from an official perspective or from the perspective of what should the practical applications of its principles be. For example, Al-Motairy (2003) explores the state of corporate governance practices in Saudi Arabia. He concludes that there is a vital need for (1) a review of these regulations to reflect the current practices of corporate governance, (2) the issuance of guidance for best practices for management and financial affair in corporations and (3) the establishment of an organisation to accelerate the adoption of best practices of corporate governance. Similarly, Fouzy (2003) evaluates the practices of corporate governances principles in Egypt. He recognises the development in Egyptian official regulations toward the application of best practices of corporate governance. He then argues that these developments are not met enough by Egyptian companies in their practical applications. Another example is the study which was carried out by Oyelere and Mohammed (2005) investigating the practices of corporate governance in Oman and how it is being communicated to stakeholders. They recommend enhanced regulation and communication for the Omani stock market to keep pace with the international developments. Finally, a research paper by the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE, 2003) examines the corporate governance practice in four Middle Eastern countries (Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Lebanon). It finds that corporate governance practice is approached differently by each country. This is depended on the sophistication of the financial market in each country. The research paper further provides several recommendations to improve the application of the principles of corporate governance in the region as a whole. In conclusion, research studies that investigated the issue of corporate governance assert the importance of better regulations of the corporate governance in the region in order to increase the public confidence in financial markets 3. Research hypotheses Although the relationship between corporate governance and capital structure has been the subject for an extensive research in developed countries, limited research has been carried out to investigate the issue in business environment of developing countries. In the subsequent paragraphs we formulate three research hypotheses. Board size hypothesis The association between board size and capital structure decisions have been well established in prior accounting and finance research. In particular, Mehran (1992), Berger et al. (1997), Wiwattanakantang (1999), Wen et al. (2002), Du and Dia (2005), Abor and Biekpe (2005) and Al-Najjar and Hussainey (2009a and 2009b) examine the association between board size and corporate capital structure decision, but the results are mixed. Mehran (1992), Berger et al. (1997), and Abor and Biekpe (2005) find a significant negative association between the size of the board of directors and debt-to-equity ratios. However, Jensen (1986) finds a positive association between higher debt ratios and larger board size. Other researchers (Wiwattanakantang, 1999; Wen et al., 2002; Al-Najjar and Hussainey, 2009) find that there is no significant association between board size and debt-to-equity ratios. Given the above mixed results, we also revisit this research area and examine the association between board size and capital structure for Saudi Arabian companies. We set the following first research hypothesis for the impact of board size on capital structure: H1: Ceteris paribus, there is a relationship between board size and debt-to-equity ratio. Ownership concentration hypothesis Ownership concentration is considered as one of the key determinants of capital structure decision. Wiwattanakantang (1999) finds that managerial shareholdings have consistent positive influence on family-owned firm leverage. In addition, Al-Najjar and Hussainey (2009a) find that insider ownership is positively and significantly associated with the debt-to-equity ratio. However, Al-Najjar and Hussainey (2009b) did not find the expected significant results. Given the above results are to some extent mixed, we also revisit this research area and examine the association between ownership concentration and capital structure for Saudi Arabian companies. We set the following second research hypothesis for the impact of ownership concentration on capital structure: H2: Ceteris paribus, there is a relationship between ownership concentration and debt-to-equity ratio. Corporate governance reporting A new and growing number of studies have investigated the association between asymmetric information and corporate decisions (see Li and Zhao, 2006 for more details). In a recent paper, Bharath et al. (2009) use a novel information asymmetry index and examine the extent to which information asymmetry is a determinant of capital structure decisions. They found that information asymmetry affects capital structure decisions of US companies. In particular, they found a significant positive association between information asymmetry and debt-to-equity ratio. In other words, their results suggest that firms will higher levels of information asymmetric are more likely to use debt in financing their activities than equity. Based on the above results, we explore the role of the information environment on capital structure decision in Saudi Arabian companies. We use a corporate governance voluntary disclosure index as a measure of a firms information environment. Prior research finds that voluntary disclosure is negatively related to asymmetric information. For example, Hussainey et al. (2003) find higher levels of voluntary disclosure reduce information asymmetry between the firm and investors and hence increase investors ability to better anticipate future earnings. We set the following third research hypothesis for the impact of corporate governance reporting on capital structure: H3: Ceteris paribus, there is a negative relationship between corporate governance reporting and debt-to-equity ratio. 4. Model Development In order to test the above hypotheses, we regress debt-to-equity ratio on some corporate governance characteristics and some control variables. The study will investigate the following model: = ++ Where: is defined as long term debt to equity ratio; is the intercept. is the slope coefficient estimates of regressors. is the corporate governance variables (and control variables) for firm i at time t. Dependent variable: The dependent variable () is defined as the long term debt to equity ratio. Independent variables: We have three independent variables and two control variables. We identify three types of corporate governance variables: (1) Board size (BOARD): This represents the number of executive and non executive directors on the board. (2) Ownership concentration (OWNERSHIP): This represents the total percentage of the companys shares that owned by owners. (3) Corporate governance reporting (DISCLOSURE): This is calculated as the number of sentences that include at least one corporate governance related information. Control variables: (1) Profitability (PROF): we use return on total assets as a measure for firms profitability. (2) Growth opportunity (MB): we use share price to book value ratio as a measure for firms growth opportunity. 5. Data Our data collection is based on a recent paper by Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008). This helps us to focus on a group of firms that report corporate governance information on their websites. Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008) collected their sample from Saudi listed companies websites between October 2005 and January 2006. At that time, the total number of companies listed in the Saudi Stock Market was 77 representing eight sectors: agriculture, services, cement, industrial, banks, electrical, telecommunication and insurance. They used TADAWUL website (www.tdwl.net) and Google website (www.google.com) to access every companys website. They deleted some companies from their analysis for a number of reasons. These include 11 firms without websites; one firm with a website under construction and one firm with a restricted website. This reduced their sample to 64 companies. We also further 27 firms because of missing corporate governance and accounting information. This leads to a sample of 37 l isted firms for the current study. Data on debt-to-equity ratio, Board size, ownership concentration, profitability and price-to-book value ratio are collected from TADAWUL website. Following Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008), we use the content analysis approach to measure the number of sentences that contain corporate governance information. Accordingly we use the corporate governance disclosure index developed by Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008) to analyse the content of every companys website. 6. Empirical Results This section discusses the descriptive analysis, the correlation analysis and the empirical results. Descriptive analysis Table 1 shows the descriptive analysis (mean, minimum, maximum and the standard deviation). It shows that on average the number of directors on board in Saudi Arabia companies is around 8, with a minimum of 4 members and a maximum of 11 members. Mean ownership concentration is 35.6 and the mean corporate governance disclosure is 5 sentences with a minimum of zero corporate governance sentence and a maximum of 21 corporate governance sentences. A broad range of variation in financial variables is also evident in our sample. The debt-to-equity ratio ranges from 0 to 97 with a mean of 24.52 and a standard deviation of 32.576. The return on total assets ratio ranges from -37.3 to 71.74 with a mean of 8.8535 and a standard deviation of 13.81767. The share price to book value ratio ranges from 0 to 21 with a mean of 5.03 and a standard deviation of 5.336. Insert table 3 here Table 2 shows the correlation analysis. The correlation between each of the independent variables is not too high. The highest correlation found between corporate governance disclosure and share price to book value ratio (MB) is 43.5, which is acceptable. This confirms that no multicollinearity problem exists between the independent variables. Insert table 4 here Table 3 shows our empirical results. It shows that the coefficient estimate on board size is positive significant with a p-value of 0.059 (see model 4). This is consistent with Jensen (1986) who also finds a positive association between higher debt ratios and larger board size. Our finding indicates that larger board size puts Saudi Arabian firms in a good position to finance their activities by using debt. This is consistent with the fact that higher quality of corporate governance improves companies financial performance (Bhagat and Bolton, 2008) and hence leads increase the ability of the company to obtain debt. Liang and Zheng (2005) provide an explanation for this positive sign. They argue that boards with a large board size are more likely to have a difficulty in getting an agreement because of different and conflict opinions and views. Accordingly, firms with large number of directors on board might not choose equity financing which requires high transaction cost to resolve co mmunication and coordination dilemma. In addition, they argue that directors would choose debt for financing their activities because this source of finance will not dilute the equity of current shareholders and change their current position. This leads us to accept hypothesis 1. Table 3 also shows that the coefficient estimate on ownership concentration is positive significant with a p-value of 0.005 (see model 4). This result is consistent with Wiwattanakantang (1999) Al-Najjar and Hussainey (2009a). This indicates that when the total percentage of the companys shares is concentrated internally, managers will prefer to use debt to finance their companies activities. This is because as mentioned in Liang and Zheng (2005) debt will not dilute the equity of current shareholders and change their current position. This leads us to accept hypothesis 2. Finally, corporate governance disclosure as a proxy for asymmetric information between managers and investors is expected to be negative and statistically significant. However, Table 3 shows that the coefficient estimate of DISCLOSURE variable is positive, indicating that firms with higher levels of corporate governance disclosure (less information asymmetry) has higher debt-to-equity ratio. This finding is statistically insignificant and not consistent with prior research. This leads us to reject hypothesis 3. 7. Conclusion The aim of this paper was to examine the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on capital structure for Saudi Arabian listed companies. Our results show that the corporate capital structure decisions in Saudi Arabia is driven by some of the same corporate governance determinates suggested in prior research. Based on a sample of 37 Saudi Arabian listed companies, our results show that the number of directors on boards and ownership concentration are the main drivers of Saudi companies for capital structure decisions. As mentioned in Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008), the main limitation of the study is that it did not cover the whole market so the sample may not be representative of the population of Saudi companies. This, however, is justified by the nature of the study, which relied on the availability of companies websites. So companies that are not included in our study are more likely to have either no website, with a website under construction or the access to the information in their website is restricted. This is evident by checking the type of companies, which are not included. We found that these companies are in general small and less likely to use the online reporting. Nevertheless, a study with a large number of companies is needed for future research.