University and Major Subjects Essay Example for Free

University and Major Subjects Essay Introduction Every student has the right to understand the lessons in an efficient and effective way. Students can even excel in their classes and their academic performance most especially in their major subjects. Accounting students may face a lot of challenges that affect their performance at school. Academic performance refers to how students deal with their studies and how to cope with or accomplish different tasks given by the professors. It is the ability to study and remember facts and being able to communicate the students’ knowledge verbally or in writing. Every student should have  the opportunity to achieve each academic potential. If the performance in academic is poor, it is an indication reflecting a large underlying problem of the students. All of the students seem to be best everyday by problems which must be considered and solved. The problems cover a wide range in one’s daily lives. For the students most of them are having poor academic performance. It only proves that this problem cannot be avoided. Bakre (2010) described poor academic performance as any performance that falls below a desired standard or excellence attained by the students. Rodriguez Castellanos (2010) considers poor academic performance as the situation in which the students does not attain the expected achievement according to their abilities. Similarly, Tapia (2002) notes that, while influences perceives that the student fail if he or she does not pass, more appropriate for determining poor academic performance whether the student performs below his or her potential. This study would like to have some solutions about this problem in the school. This research will be a great help to the students, faculty and administration. The result will create a corresponding  action and problem will be prevented. It is essential that these problems be scientifically analyzed to discover its underlying factor and to find a remedy. The researchers aim to help the students who are having difficulty in academic performance in their major subjects due to the factors affecting them. Through this study every student will determine the challenges that affect their academic performance. Statement of the Problem This study will be conducted to investigate the factor affecting the academic performance in major subjects among accounting students of Far Eastern University-Makati 2nd Semester 2013-2014. Time management is a factor affecting the academic performance in major subjects among accounting students of Far Eastern University-Makati 2nd Semester 2013-2014. Teaching methods is a factor affecting the academic performance in major subjects among accounting students of Far Eastern University-Makati 2nd Semester 2013-2014. Peer Pressure is a factor affecting the academic performance in major subjects among accounting students of Far Eastern University-Makati 2nd Semester 2013-2014. Academic Demand is a factor affecting the academic performance in major subjects among  accounting students of Far Eastern University-Makati 2nd Semester 2013-2014. Improper Use of Technology is a factor affecting the academic performance in major subjects among accounting students of Far Eastern University-Makati 2nd Semester 2013-2014. Scope and Delimitation This study, Factors Affecting Academic Performance in Major Subjects of Accounting Students of Far Eastern University-Makati 2nd Semester School Year 2013-2014 focuses on the factors affecting the performance of accounting students. The researchers will conduct a survey for both male and female college students who were taking up BS Accounting Technology and BS  Accountancy. The study is not only limit in the factors affecting the academic performance of accounting student but also the opinion and perception of college students in Accountancy. Because the given five factors, time management, teaching methods, peer pressure, academic demand and improper use of technology are not only the factors that could affect the performance of accounting students with their major subjects. Definition of Terms ?Academic performance- refers to how students deal with their studies and how they cope with or accomplish different tasks given to them by their professors. ?Accountancy – profession or duties of accountant ?Accounting is an information science used to collect, classifies, and manipulate financial data for organizations and individuals. ?Efficient – working in a well organized and competent way ?Factors -a circumstance, fact, or influence that contributes to a result. ?Improper – incorrect; not in accordance ?Peer Pressure -refers to the influence exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes and values in order to conform to group norms. ?Perception – the way in which something is regarded, understood or interpreted. ?Underlying – be the cause or the basis Procedure in Gathering Data †¢RESPONDENTS OF THE STUDY The researchers will survey college students with a program of BS Accounting Technology and BS Accountancy. This can be first year, second year, third year and fourth year accounting students. †¢RESEARCH INSTRUMENT The researchers will use the descriptive-survey in which they use survey form or questionnaire and interview method to gather the data from both male and female accounting students. The researchers will use purposive sampling in which male and female college students who are taking the program of Accounting Technology and Accountancy. Purposive and random sampling will be use for the samples that are chosen to specific objectives. Determine the Sample size Determine the Sampling Technique Use the Research Instrument Validation of Research Instrument Gathering of Data from the respondent Presentation and Interpretation of Data †¢PROCEDURE As shown in the diagram, the researcher will determine the sample size of the respondent and then the sampling technique to be use. The researcher will use questionnaire and interview method as research instrument. The questionnaire will be check by professor for validation, correction and suggestion. Then the researcher will start collection data from respondent. After the survey, the researcher will tabulate and present the data they obtain from the respondents. Research Instrument The researcher will use any type of questionnaire since it can provide sufficient information in the study. The questions can be limited in the five categories of factors affecting the academic performance of accounting students and it can beyond the other factors. Category A: Time Management Category B: Teaching Method Category C: Peer Pressure Category D: Academic Demand Category E: Improper Use of Technology Category F: Others.

Internet As An Information Source Information Technology Essay

Internet As An Information Source Information Technology Essay The Internet is a network of networks that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks. Internet is also described as the worldwide publicly accessible network of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). Internet is the transport vehicle for the information stored in files or documents on another computer. It carries together various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web. The Internet itself does not contain information, it is a slight misstatement to say a document was found on the Internet. It would be more correct to say it was found through or using the Internet. What it was found in (or on) is one of the computers linked to the Internet. Every aspect of our day to day life is affected by the internet. Whether it is shopping, business, banking, communication, paying your bills, social gathering, party, learning, education etc. Internet is everywhere, knocking at our door, making our life easier and smooth. Moreover, when it comes to education and research internet is paving way for a great leap and sure library and information centers has no exception. The internet made the information on our finger tips. The libraries of the developed world has adopted the internet facilities to provide the fast and better library services to its patron but this is not the case with many developing nations and third world countries. The libraries of the third world countries still do not have the basic internet access facilities in many cases because of the poor funding and budget crisis, while we are talking about web 2.0 in countries like United States, Europe and other developed nations. This paper has also tried to explore broadl y the importance of internet with regard to access of information sources and its utilities for library patrons in academic organizations and institutions. Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is a residential academic institution located in the city of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. Originally it was Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, which was founded by a great Muslim social reformer Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in 1875 and in 1920 it was granted a status of Central University by an Act of Indian Parliament. Modelled on the University of Cambridge, it was among the first institutions of higher learning set up during the British Raj. Aligarh Muslim University offers more than 250 courses in traditional and modern branch of education. The University is open to all irrespective of caste, creed, religion or gender. For more information please logon to university website: www.amu.ac.in. Literature Review Pangannaya, N.B. (2000) conducted a study i.e. Use of Internet by the Academic Community: a Case Study. This paper is an attempt to investigate the use of internet resources by the academic community of Mysore University, using survey as the research tool. The paper has investigated the faculty wise frequency and length of use of the internet. Moreover, it describes the emergence of internet, has revolutionized the academic world. Darries, Fatima (2004) has discussed various issues related to internet based reference services under the given title Internet access and use in reference services in higher education institutions in South Africa. An electronic survey was conducted using the web and e-mail to distribute the questionnaire. The target population was the heads of reference services at large libraries and the directors at smaller libraries of the 36 higher education institutions in South Africa. The response rate to the questionnaire was 28 (30.4 %); two returned questionnaires were spoilt. These results showed that all libraries surveyed have Internet access, and all but one provided access to their users. Librarians had access to the Internet for a longer period than their users. User internet training tended to be on a one-to-one basis at the point-of-use. Jay, Margaret and Webber, Sheila (2005) conducted a research study under the title Impact of the internet on delivery of reference services in English public libraries The study aims to investigate the impact of the internet on reference services in public libraries in England. A questionnaire was administered in 2003 to a sample of the public library authorities in England, investigating the use of the internet for receiving or answering reference enquiries, the use of electronic reference sources, and the nature of public library web sites. The paper concludes by identifying the need for public library managers to assess the changing role of professionals and Para-professionals in delivering reference services, and to provide appropriate training. It also notes that despite the discussion of real-time reference, asynchronous digital reference is still more common in England. The above table 4.7 clearly shows the results about the users satisfaction level with internet based information services when compare to print medium. The above table shows that 41 i.e. (45.05%) users are highly satisfied with the internet based information services in comparison to print sources. On the other hand 36 i.e. (39.65%) users have given the average rating to the internet as a source of information access compare to printed sources, while 14 i.e. (15.38%) users are very highly satisfied with internet based information services. The investigators have tried to find out problems pertaining to internet access among the research scholars PG students of the Science faculty in AMU. The investigators find out the major problems and hindrance in this regard shown in the table No. 4.8. The great response in this section is about the slow internet speed. 72 i.e. (47.68%) users complained about the slow internet speed, 28 i.e. (18.54%) users feel that there are lack of sufficient internet connected terminals in the department / library, which hinders them to properly utilize their time at the optimum level. Moreover 19 i.e. (12.58%) users face the problem of too many hits or information overload, 17 i.e. (11.25%) reported about the problem of the missing link / broken link. In addition to that, 12 i.e. (7.94%) users feels that the staff in the computer section of department / library are not technically very sound and therefore needs training and sound technical knowledge. 3 i.e. (1.98%) users complained about the ir relevant retrieval or lack of precision while trying to find out relevant information on the Internet. The investigators clearly find that the most of the research Scholars PG students have the internet access facility in their departments. They also find out that the users from science faculty access the internet on various locations, most of the users are using internet in the departments and in the university central library. They are also browsing the internet in the university computer centre. They are going least to cyber cafes for using internet. The present study also says that the most of the research scholars PG students of the science faculty are exploiting the internet services for their research work. Apart from that they are using internet for keeping themselves abreast with the latest development in the world, for communication purposes, and to search the career development information. Most of the research scholars PG students are using the J-gateway to access the various online journals either from the respective departments, central library browsing section, or fr om the university computer centre. Moreover, the present study states that the print information sources have been affected due to the use of internet based information services in the science faculty and the users satisfaction is quite high vis-Ã  -vis print sources of information. In addition to that, research scholars PG students find Internet based information services easy to use. It is clear from the present study that most of the users utilize the internet for searching the subject oriented information. Apart from that, majority of the users are satisfied with the accuracy of the internet based information sources.

BPR Microfinance Institution in Indonesia

BPR Microfinance Institution in Indonesia Chapter 1   Introduction 1.1  Background It is believed that microfinance helps low-income people alleviate their life from poverty circumstances in many developing countries. As an economic instrument which has been raised in the middle of seventies, the thought of microfinance came up from the fact that low-income people difficult to access financial services from commercial or formal banking institution which may disadvantage them or even not including them as potential clients. The reason is that, which often we may hear for several times, low-income people lack of collateral for guarantee some amount of money they want, and in the commercial financial institutions point of view it is costly to serve them due to unequal cost-benefit and high transaction cost: low-income people tend to borrow in small amount but the commercial financial institution maintain high cost for processing and assuring their repayment. These costs are not proportional with the amount of loan given to them. A formal microfinance institution existing in Indonesia is the Bank Perkreditan Rakyat/BPR (People’s Credit Bank or Rural Bank)[1] which is established by the Banking Act. The main objective of the BPR is to serve small businesses[2]. It means that BPRs can enhance their role and contribution in the development of micro and small business[3]. In Indonesia, like other developing countries, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)[4] play significant role in economy. The role of MSMEs can be viewed as an important factor for Indonesia to recover from economic crisis and to lead economic growth and employment. Statistics Indonesia (Badan Pusat Statistik/BPS) and Ministry of Cooperatives and Small-Medium Enterprises reported[5] that, the average contribution of SMEs’ share to total GDP Indonesia from the period of 2001 2007 was 60.77%, while at the same period large enterprises (LEs) contributed 39.23% which can be seen in Table 1. Source:  Statistics Indonesia (BPS) and Ministry of Cooperatives and Small-Medium Enterprises (various editions) In terms of employment creation, MSM enterprises have passed over large enterprises. Table 3 provides worker absorption by types of enterprises. It shows that small enterprises have absorbed approximately 91% of employment during 1999-2006, while medium and large enterprises have provided by 5% and by 4% of employment in Indonesia. Source  : Cooperative Statistics cited in Nazara and Gitaharie (2008), edited by author Based on the data which are discussed in the previous paragraphs, it can be concluded that micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have a big role and a potential as a driver of the domestic economy. Nevertheless, they still have several constraints, for instance, product market accessibility, lack of management skills, and limited access to financial sources, especially from commercial banks, to meet their demand for finance. A survey conducted by Statistics Indonesia (BPS) concluded that the biggest problem for micro and small enterprises is lack of capital for financing their business.  The survey recognized that  problem in finance for micro enterprises was accounted for 40.48%, while for small enterprises was 36.63% (Wardoyo and Prabowo 2003: 31). In Indonesia, small and medium enterprises can acquire their finance from several sources. According to Nazara and Gitaharie (2008) which refer to statistical data from BPS 2000; 82,960 SMEs got their finance from non banking financial institution; 385,383 SMEs got their finance from banks; and 661,630 SMEs got their finance from other sources. It is clearly from the data that most of SMEs rely on sources other than formal institutions. These figures were not taking into account for SMEs which have no legal entities (Nazara and Gitaharie 2008: 8). From SMEs point of view, they face kinky administrative procedure and also they have to provide collateral as guarantee to get loans from commercial banks. This condition leads SMEs favoring in Bank Perkreditan Rakyat/BPR (People’s Credit Bank or Rural Bank) and other financial institutions which provide simpler in administrative procedures, but higher in interest rates compared to commercial banks (Nazara and Gitaharie 2008: 8). Even though entrepreneurs are burdened with high interest rates, they do not much complain about it as long as they have access to formal credit (Berry et al. 2001 as cited in (Sunarto 2007: 2)). In line with the condition in which SMEs favoring in BPRs, Sunarto (Sunarto 2007: 4) stated that BPRs have several advantages in serving to SMEs, those are: (1) its location which is close to SMEs, (2) simpler in credit procedures, (3) accentuate a personal approach in its services and (4) more flexible.   This paper is focused on the role and contribution of BPR, one of the formal types of microfinance institutions in Indonesia, as the suppliers of funds to different types of enterprises especially to micro and small. The discussion emphasizes on credit allocation delivered by BPRs to the micro, small and medium enterprises. Comparative analysis will be made between commercial banks[6] and BPRs for analytical purposes in two things. Firstly, the comparison in terms of allocation of credit which does not consider other variables playing a role in borrowing, for instance interest rates and so on. The comparative result is not in the amount of the credit disbursed but in the percentage of allocation for each type of enterprise. Secondly, the comparison in terms of performance will be discussed through some indicators. Furthermore, the performance indicators of BPRs will be compared with their criteria which set by Bank Indonesia to see whether those indicators improving or deteriorating. 1.2  Research Objective and Research Questions Research Objective The objective of this paper is to study the role and performance of Bank Perkreditan Rakyat (BPR), as one of microfinance institutions in Indonesia, in financing micro, small and medium enterprises. Research Questions In order to achieve the research objective, this paper proposes research questions as follows: 1.  What is the role of BPRs as supplier of funds to different types of small and medium enterprises, in particular micro enterprises? 2.  What is the performance of BPRs in relation to credit provision to micro and small enterprises? 1.3  Research Hypothesis Bank Perkreditan Rakyat (BPR) was established with the main objective is to serve small-scale business and people in rural areas. Therefore, the first hypothesis is that BPRs are reaching their main objective as supplier of funds to micro, small and medium enterprises as mandated by regulation (i.e., banking act). In order to meet the objectives, it is needed good performances which are reflected from their performance indicators. Therefore, the second hypothesis is that performance indicators of the BPRs have met with the standards which set by the Indonesia banking authority. 1.4  Organization of the Paper This paper is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 is introduction which contains background of the research, research objective and research questions, research hypothesis, and organization of the paper. Chapter 2 is review of the literatures and analytical framework for the research. Literature reviews discuss about definitions of microfinance and microfinance institution, the approaches can be taken by a microfinance institution in order to serve the clients, the models of microfinance institutions, the types of microfinance institutions in Indonesia and the pyramid of them in relation to potential customers and performance indicators. Analytical framework discusses about the way in which the research will be achieved. Chapter 3 is the microfinance institutions in Indonesia which contains their brief history and recent condition. Chapter 4 is analysis of the role of BPRs in financing micro, small and medium enterprises which contains overview of the chapter, data source for the analysis, methodology of the analysis, some information about commercial banks and BPRs, and analyzing to answer the research questions. Chapter 5 is conclusion.   Chapter 2   Literature Review and Analytical Framework 2.1  Literature Review There are many definitions about microfinance proposed by several researchers and institutions. This paper uses some definitions given by Robinson, Ledgerwood, Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to describe microfinance. Robinson (Robinson 2001: 9) defined microfinance as small size financial services (mainly saving and credit) given to people who having farm or fish or herd; people who running micro or small enterprises which producing, recycling, repairing or selling goods; people who offering services; people who working for commissions or wages; people who having earnings from renting the land, vehicles, draft animals, or machinery and equipment; and people or other individuals and groups from both rural and urban areas at the local level from the developing countries. Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP)[7] which uses terminology â€Å"poor people† and Ledgerwood which uses terminology â€Å"low-income clients† pointed out to person who receives basic financial services from microfinance including self-employed people. Furthermore, Ledgerwood (Ledgerwood 1999: 1) stated that definition of microfinance comprises not only in financial intermediation but also in social intermediation. Many of microfinance institutions (MFIs)[8] provide this social intermediation function (i.e., group arrangement, self-confidence development, training to enhance capabilities and to increase capacities in terms of financial literacy and managements) go along with financial intermediation. Moreover, she argued that microfinance is a development instrument and it is not just banking.   Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Santoso et al. 2005: 7) defined microfinance into two understandings. Firstly, it refers to an institution when it designates to an organization which offer financial services or banking products, especially loans to the poor people. Secondly, it uses for different methods or activities which assigned to the poor people in order to access financial services. The poor people usually ask for loans, meanwhile commercial banks do not qualify them for loans. These understandings are close to each other. An institution which provides products for poor people called as microfinance institution. The usage of products (i.e., credits) which is provided by MFIs will be beneficial for poor people in generating more earnings.   Ledgerwood (Ledgerwood 1999: 65-66) stated that the approaches that can be done by microfinance institutions can be divided into two main categories: the minimalist approach or integrated approach. When MFIs do minimalist approach, they only perform functions of financial intermediation, although sometimes they offer social intermediation in limited services. Premise that underlie this approach is a-single missing piece that can be offered by MFIs to the clients in the form of access to credit for them due to the clients are getting less coverage of services from financial institutions, for instance to grow enterprises. On the other hand, integrated approach is a combination of four aspects those are social and financial intermediation, enterprise development and social services. Thus, it is needed a holistic view of the client when a MFI taking this approach. If MFIs are not able to meet all four services, MFIs only offer services that are really needed by the client as long as this service in line with goal and objective of MFIs. Since the large-scale demand for services microfinance activities is in existence, the activities are shown in many countries. The poor people are usually un-bankable, because of such conditions: low skills, poor capacity and severe inabilities. They might not be served in the commercial banking system. It is because the system needs for formal requirements, along with the proper economic scale and certain guarantee. In official terms, this kind of market is un-named and un-served. There are niche markets for the supply of services for MFIs (Santoso et al. 2005: 8). Clients of microfinance institution can not be classified as the poorest of the poor. Generally, they are self-employed and low-income entrepreneur, including; traders, food vendors at the street side, small farmers, small producers and artisan who produce souvenirs in at tourism area and so on. The nature of their business usually provides a stable source of income (Ledgerwood 1999: 2). In various forms, income is provided by micro enterprises owned by the poor. This is done by providing employment. The recycling and repairing better than littering a good, making cheap food, clothing, and transportation to be available are some examples. It is also made to them who are from the low level of formal sector that are usually very difficult to live with their salaries. The people of this kind of life are often can cope with such a problem with the typical cases mentioned above, but can not handle the more serious problem. The other types of problem that are often found are deficiency of capital, skill, official status, and business security. In the meantime, naturally they already have the ability to face sharp business sense, strong life skills, long hard work practice, market knowledge, extensive communication and informal support networks. They also used to have the ability to live supported by their flexibility basic consideration (Robinson 2001: 12). A recent study in Bosnia and Herzegovina carried out by Hartarska and Nadolnyak (Hartarska and Nadolnyak 2008) used the financing constraint approach. The approach states that microenterprises that have good access to credit will be less rely on internal funding in their investment. Using the Living Standards Measurement Survey and the existence of the MFIs in their area, they compare sensitivity of investment to internal funds in the microenterprises which there are MFIs in municipalities they located to microenterprises which there is no MFIs in municipalities they located. They concluded that the MFIs reduce the constraint of microenterprises funding when they are exist close to business. There are some models of microfinance institutions. The first model is Grameen Bank. This model is founded in many countries, especially in Bangladesh, from which it established for the first time by Muhammad Junus. In determining target poor clients, Grameen Bank will do it carefully which is usually done through a series of tests. Loans are given to the group in which each group typically consists of five people and each member of the group guarantee the loan of the other members. This model intensively requires supervision and motivation from the staff to the group borrowers. The second model is Village Bank. An implementing agency establish individual village bank together with 30-50 people and sets capital for on-lending to other members. Repayments of the loan are usually in a week until 16 weeks whereas the village bank pays the principal plus interest to implementing agency. The third model is Credit Unions (CUs). Credit Unions are non-profit financial cooperatives which owned and controlled by its members. Besides saving, CU also provides loans for both productive and non-productive purposes to the members. The membership of CUs compared to Grameen Bank is more heterogeneous and usually based on similar bond. The fourth model is ‘self-help’ groups (SHGs). This model is close to the second model, village bank, although their structure is less well compared to the village bank.  The membership of SHGs is based on the similarity in income and the number of membership approximately 20 people. In principle, they use internal funding, that is saving, to lend it to the members, even though they can also seek external funding as additional source of funds. Several NGOs are facilitating and promoting SHGs, but basically, SHGs are directed as an independent institution. The task of seeking additional financing from outside is usually helped by NGOs which link between SHGs and other external parties or other funding agencies. This NGO’s job close related to social intermediary function they have, while other NGOs are functioned as financial intermediaries which funding SHGs  (Conroy 2003: 4-5). In terms of forms, microfinance institutions can be classified as bank (government and commercial), nonbank financial institution, saving and loan cooperative, credit union and nongovernmental organization. Pawnbrokers, rotating saving and credit association, and moneylender also part of MFIs and hold significant roles in functioning financial intermediation although they are more informal in legal status (Ledgerwood 1999: 1). In Indonesia, several institutions have already served microfinance services for such a long period. Those institutions can be divided into four types. The first type is formal microfinance institutions (MFIs). This type of MFI is regulated and supervised as banking institution and therefore their activities as financial intermediaries subject to banking regulation and supervision. Such institutions included in this type are BRI Unit (state-owned microbank), commercial banks with microfinance services and Rural Bank (Bank Perkreditan Rakyat/BPR). The second type is semi formal MFIs which registered and or licensed by state authorities or local governments, therefore they are not regulated by banking authority (Bank Indonesia). Including in this type are cooperatives, Islamic-based cooperatives (Baitul Maal wat Tamwil/BMT), rural credit institution (Badan Kredit Desa/BKD) and microfinance owned and managed by NGOs. The third type is informal MFIs that operate outside the framework of government regulation, among others, are credit union, rotating credit and saving association (ROSCA), moneylenders, landlords and so on. The fourth type is microcredit programs established by the government in channeling credit to subsidize the poor through a variety of institutions (Nugroho 2008: 181-182). Further explanation about these four microfinance services especially the first three types of MFIs will be presented in chapter 3.   In Figure 1 we can see the pyramid of microfinance institutions with their potential customers in Indonesia. The top layer shows formal MFIs (BRI Unit, Rural Banks/ BPRs and LDKPs). They provide financial services for the top level of microfinance market. This type of MFIs is intended to serve small business which has characterized with stable income flows; therefore these MFIs’ potential clients are non-poor and not so poor people. In the middle layer, semi- formal MFIs serve microfinance services for the poor households. This layer includes rural credit institutions (Bank Kredit Desa/BKD), cooperatives, BMT and NGOs. Clients in this layer are characterized by unstable flow of income. At the bottom layer of the pyramid the huge number of potential clients which need microfinance services. They are very poor people which are characterized by unpredictable income. They need the microfinance services in order to ensure their uncertain income, so they need a small loan to overcom e the difficulties of life (Nugroho 2008: 184-185). Figure 1: The Pyramid of Microfinance Services in Indonesia Source: BI and GTZ (2000) cited in Nugroho (2008) As mentioned above, Rural Bank (Bank Perkreditan Rakyat/BPR) is one of the formal types of microfinance in Indonesia. Its existence is established by Banking Act number 7 of 1992 as amended by Banking Act number 10 of 1998. The main goal of the rural bank is to serve small business and rural communities. In order to deliver their services to the customers, a microfinance institution requires a good performance. This performance can be seen from some indicators. Looking at these indicators, we can decide how well they not only can do financially but also it can also build the future performance goals. There are a large number of performance indicators that can be used by MFIs in measuring the financial performance. One of the principles that can be used is the CAMEL system, ACCION. This system examines five traditional aspects which are regarded as the most important thing in the practices of the financial intermediaries. The five aspects (capital adequacy, asset quality, management, earnings, and liquidity) be the sign of the financial condition and operational strength of the MFI in common (Ledgerwood 1999: 205,227,229). 2.2  Analytical Framework Based on the theoretical framework that has been presented in the previous section, the author uses Figure 2 below describing the analytical framework used in the research which answering the research questions asked. There are two parties involved in the financial market.  On one hand, there is a supply side which is financial institutions that act as financial intermediation agents or it might be function as other than financial intermediation like social intermediation or something else. These financial institutions include commercial banks, non-banks financial institutions (insurances company, ventura capital, etc), and microfinance institutions (in different types and forms). On the other hand, on the demand side, there are some parties that require financing for different purposes, among others for working capital and investment usage which is belongs to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The problem is that not all of these financial institutions allow MSMEs as their client due to several requirements which can not be fulfilled by MSMEs (collateral and bureaucratic procedures, for instances) or it might be comes from the MSMEs itself that no need too much funds (small financing). Here, microfinance institutions fit with the need of MSMEs. The mechanism then runs as common supply and demand in the market: MFIs, as financial intermediaries, offer credit or loan to MSMEs. Furthermore, MSMEs use the loan for running their operational activities (working capital usage) or for accumulating their physical capital (investment usage). At the end of the story, output of MSMEs will contribute to national income (GDP) and at the same time generates income for the owners and employees. Figure 2: Analytical Framework of the Research: Supply and Demand in Financial Market Source: author’s graph This paper focuses on the supply side of particular financial intermediaries in the financial market those are microfinance institutions. In other words, using Ledgerwood’s terminology mentioned in literature review, the paper mainly looks at the role of MFIs in terms of â€Å"minimalist approach†; how they perform as financial intermediations in delivering credit or loan. Special attention given to Rural Banks, one of formal MFIs in Indonesia in allocating their credit to different types of enterprises such as micro, small, medium and large enterprises. There are several reasons why this paper discusses on Rural Banks as unit of analysis. Firstly, it is states in the regulation (Banking Act) that the main objective of Rural Banks is to serve small scale business and looking into the pyramid of MFIs appeared in Figure 1. It means that Rural Banks have a specialization as small scale business’ banking, especially micro enterprises. This paper wants to see to which extent this mission is successfully executed. Secondly, Rural Banks are the second largest microfinance institutions in terms of asset, third party funds collected and number of debtors. According to Bank Indonesia (2008)[9], they posses 35% of total MFIs’ assets; 30.43% of third party funds collected on total MFIs and 29.15% of total number debtors on total MFIs.   This study proposes two research questions. The first research question relates to the role of rural banks as financial intermediaries in delivering credit to different types of business especially micro and small enterprises. In addressing the first research question, the paper uses comparative analysis and simple calculations in terms of credit disbursement for both commercial banks and rural banks so that the share (percentage) of credit allocation to different types of enterprises to be known. In order to obtain the result, some criteria and assumption are applied in the study. This is done due to there is no data available about the definite amount of credit disbursed by either Rural Banks or commercial banks to different type of enterprises. The discussion focuses only on the amount of credit allocation, so that other variables that determine the credit such as interest rate, collateral, and so forth are not discussed in this study.   The second research question indicates the performance indicators of rural banks in relation to credit provision to micro enterprises. These indicators include; Loan to Deposit Ratio (LDR), Returns on Assets Ratio (ROA) and Non-Performing Loan Ratio (NPL) which refer to Director of Bank Indonesia Decree number 30/12/Kep/Dir and Bank Indonesia’s Letter No. 30/3/UPPB about Rural Banks Soundness Evaluation. Furthermore, comparison will be made between these indicators and criteria. Chapter 3 Microfinance Institutions in Indonesia 3.1  Microfinance Institutions in Indonesia As developing country, Indonesia has long experience and history in developing microfinance institution which has made it possible for poor or low-income people to overcome financial constraints and to access financial institutions. For this condition, some researchers like Berenbach and Churchill called that Indonesia is â€Å"the most developed market for microfinance services in the world† (Barenbach and Churchill 1997 as cited in (Santoso et al. 2005: 43)). The development of microfinance institution began for the first time in Dutch colonial era when several well-educated local people saw deteriorating economy happened in their community and they looked for the need of this services and started organize it. The two famous institutions best known as pioneer in microfinance institutions and exist since colonial era are cooperative and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI). As mentioned in chapter 2, microfinance institutions in Indonesia can be classified into four types (Nugroho 2008), those are; formal microfinance institutions, semiformal MFIs, informal MFIs and microcredit program which is established by the government for delivering credit to poor people through several institutions. In this chapter the latter type of MFI will not be discussed. The discussion is emphasizes on three other institutions. Formal MFIs are financial intermediary institutions which refer and subject to banking regulation and therefore supervised by Bank Indonesia. Semiformal MFIs are not regulated by Bank Indonesia as a banking authority, but they are licensed and or registered by other state authorities or local government. Informal MFIs operate outside government regulations. Nugroho (Nugroho 2008) described institutions which include in each type of MFI as follows: formal MFIs including BRI Unit, Rural Bank (BPR) and The Rural Credit Fund Institutions (Lembaga Dana Kredit Pedesaan/LDKP); semiformal MFIs covering rural credit institution (Badan Kredit Desa/ BKD), microfinance NGO, credit cooperatives including Islamic-based cooperatives (Baitul Maal wat Tamwil/BMT); informal MFIs including credit unions, rotating credit and saving association (ROSCA), moneylenders, traders and landlords. Table 3.1 provides map of microfinance institutions by types in Indonesia in terms of units and their financial services. Bank Rakyat Indonesia Unit Lembaga Dana Kredit Perdesaan (LDKP) – The Rural Credit Fund Institutions The Rural Credit Fund Institutions (LDKP) is the term of credit fund institution that operates in rural area, including a variety of non bank microfinance institutions with different names, ownership, organization, services and outreach, that was established on initiatives of provincial government. LDKP belongs to provincial, district or village government which, in their operation, have to obtain license from and was regulated by provincial government within the national regulatory framework. they get technical support and supervision from regional development bank (BPD) which are owned by provincial government.. since it was established in 1970s, the number of LDKP getting less from 1978 to 630 in 2000, this decrease due to the conversion of LDKP to peoples cerdit banks(BPR) and recently only about one quarter of LDKP  have become banks. The Badan  Kredit Desa (BKD) BKD is a profitable and sustainable village level financial institution that provide financial services with a outreach to low income people. it was operated by a committee that controlled by head of village and have sustained the operation since colonial era. On behalf of Bank Indonesia, BRI branch offices supervise and provide technical assistance  for BKD. in 1970s indonesian government did not pay much attention to this system. instead, the government  give more attention to the cooperative system. this make hard for BKD system to developed. in 1990s BRI tried to revive BKD by providing basic capital, improving administrative system and introducing new saving instruments, however, 1992 banking act burden the expanding BKD system. BKD is recognized as peoples credit bank (BPR) and has been operating as a licensed and regulated bank  since 1992 banking act but the frame work setting, supervision and technical assistance has not changed since 2000. Cooperatives Here, the brief history of cooperative in Indonesia refers to Santoso et al (2005) and Ministry of Cooperative, Small and Medium Enterprises’ website (www.depkop.go.id, 2009) as references. The thought of cooperative was delivered for the first time by Patih R. Aria Wiriatmaja at Purwokerto, a small town in Central Java, in 1896. Then, De Wolffvan Westerrode continued his efforts. In 1908, the year of national movement, Dr. Sutomo founded Budi Utomo which played a significant role for cooperatives improving the life of society. Then, Verordening op de Cooperatieve Vereeniging was established. Twelve years after that, in 1927, another type of cooperative called Regelling Inlandsche Cooperatieve was launched. In the same year, to develop bargaining power among local entrepreneurs, Islamic Trader Union (Serikat Dagang Islam) was established. Indonesian National Party (Partai Nasional Indonesia) which had activities in promoting cooperative spirit was established in 1929. 3.2  Bank Perkreditan Rakyat (BPR) Brief History Steinwand (Steinwand 2001) provided detail periodical history about Rural Bank. He divided the history into four parts of periods; the evolution of the colonial BPR (1895-1945), the period from independence to financial sector reform (1945-1983), the period from financial sector reform to financial crisis (1983-1999) and at the present condition. Rural Bank Position in Financial System in Indonesia Chapter 4   Analysis of the Role of Bank Perkreditan Rakyat (BPR) in Financing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises 4.1  Overview Chapter 4 consists of 6 sections which each section aimed to answer the research questions. Section 1 is a general information about what will be discussed in this chapter; section 2 discusses about the source of the data used in the analysis; section 3 is the methodology; section 4 is about overview the condition of Bank Perkreditan Rakyat (BPRs) and commercial banks (CBs) in Indonesia using selected indicators, third party funds and credits; section 5 tries to reply the first research question by using comparative analysis between commercial banks and BPRs; and section 6 is the last section which answering the second research question about the performance indicators of BPR Microfinance Institution in Indonesia BPR Microfinance Institution in Indonesia Chapter 1   Introduction 1.1  Background It is believed that microfinance helps low-income people alleviate their life from poverty circumstances in many developing countries. As an economic instrument which has been raised in the middle of seventies, the thought of microfinance came up from the fact that low-income people difficult to access financial services from commercial or formal banking institution which may disadvantage them or even not including them as potential clients. The reason is that, which often we may hear for several times, low-income people lack of collateral for guarantee some amount of money they want, and in the commercial financial institutions point of view it is costly to serve them due to unequal cost-benefit and high transaction cost: low-income people tend to borrow in small amount but the commercial financial institution maintain high cost for processing and assuring their repayment. These costs are not proportional with the amount of loan given to them. A formal microfinance institution existing in Indonesia is the Bank Perkreditan Rakyat/BPR (People’s Credit Bank or Rural Bank)[1] which is established by the Banking Act. The main objective of the BPR is to serve small businesses[2]. It means that BPRs can enhance their role and contribution in the development of micro and small business[3]. In Indonesia, like other developing countries, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)[4] play significant role in economy. The role of MSMEs can be viewed as an important factor for Indonesia to recover from economic crisis and to lead economic growth and employment. Statistics Indonesia (Badan Pusat Statistik/BPS) and Ministry of Cooperatives and Small-Medium Enterprises reported[5] that, the average contribution of SMEs’ share to total GDP Indonesia from the period of 2001 2007 was 60.77%, while at the same period large enterprises (LEs) contributed 39.23% which can be seen in Table 1. Source:  Statistics Indonesia (BPS) and Ministry of Cooperatives and Small-Medium Enterprises (various editions) In terms of employment creation, MSM enterprises have passed over large enterprises. Table 3 provides worker absorption by types of enterprises. It shows that small enterprises have absorbed approximately 91% of employment during 1999-2006, while medium and large enterprises have provided by 5% and by 4% of employment in Indonesia. Source  : Cooperative Statistics cited in Nazara and Gitaharie (2008), edited by author Based on the data which are discussed in the previous paragraphs, it can be concluded that micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have a big role and a potential as a driver of the domestic economy. Nevertheless, they still have several constraints, for instance, product market accessibility, lack of management skills, and limited access to financial sources, especially from commercial banks, to meet their demand for finance. A survey conducted by Statistics Indonesia (BPS) concluded that the biggest problem for micro and small enterprises is lack of capital for financing their business.  The survey recognized that  problem in finance for micro enterprises was accounted for 40.48%, while for small enterprises was 36.63% (Wardoyo and Prabowo 2003: 31). In Indonesia, small and medium enterprises can acquire their finance from several sources. According to Nazara and Gitaharie (2008) which refer to statistical data from BPS 2000; 82,960 SMEs got their finance from non banking financial institution; 385,383 SMEs got their finance from banks; and 661,630 SMEs got their finance from other sources. It is clearly from the data that most of SMEs rely on sources other than formal institutions. These figures were not taking into account for SMEs which have no legal entities (Nazara and Gitaharie 2008: 8). From SMEs point of view, they face kinky administrative procedure and also they have to provide collateral as guarantee to get loans from commercial banks. This condition leads SMEs favoring in Bank Perkreditan Rakyat/BPR (People’s Credit Bank or Rural Bank) and other financial institutions which provide simpler in administrative procedures, but higher in interest rates compared to commercial banks (Nazara and Gitaharie 2008: 8). Even though entrepreneurs are burdened with high interest rates, they do not much complain about it as long as they have access to formal credit (Berry et al. 2001 as cited in (Sunarto 2007: 2)). In line with the condition in which SMEs favoring in BPRs, Sunarto (Sunarto 2007: 4) stated that BPRs have several advantages in serving to SMEs, those are: (1) its location which is close to SMEs, (2) simpler in credit procedures, (3) accentuate a personal approach in its services and (4) more flexible.   This paper is focused on the role and contribution of BPR, one of the formal types of microfinance institutions in Indonesia, as the suppliers of funds to different types of enterprises especially to micro and small. The discussion emphasizes on credit allocation delivered by BPRs to the micro, small and medium enterprises. Comparative analysis will be made between commercial banks[6] and BPRs for analytical purposes in two things. Firstly, the comparison in terms of allocation of credit which does not consider other variables playing a role in borrowing, for instance interest rates and so on. The comparative result is not in the amount of the credit disbursed but in the percentage of allocation for each type of enterprise. Secondly, the comparison in terms of performance will be discussed through some indicators. Furthermore, the performance indicators of BPRs will be compared with their criteria which set by Bank Indonesia to see whether those indicators improving or deteriorating. 1.2  Research Objective and Research Questions Research Objective The objective of this paper is to study the role and performance of Bank Perkreditan Rakyat (BPR), as one of microfinance institutions in Indonesia, in financing micro, small and medium enterprises. Research Questions In order to achieve the research objective, this paper proposes research questions as follows: 1.  What is the role of BPRs as supplier of funds to different types of small and medium enterprises, in particular micro enterprises? 2.  What is the performance of BPRs in relation to credit provision to micro and small enterprises? 1.3  Research Hypothesis Bank Perkreditan Rakyat (BPR) was established with the main objective is to serve small-scale business and people in rural areas. Therefore, the first hypothesis is that BPRs are reaching their main objective as supplier of funds to micro, small and medium enterprises as mandated by regulation (i.e., banking act). In order to meet the objectives, it is needed good performances which are reflected from their performance indicators. Therefore, the second hypothesis is that performance indicators of the BPRs have met with the standards which set by the Indonesia banking authority. 1.4  Organization of the Paper This paper is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 is introduction which contains background of the research, research objective and research questions, research hypothesis, and organization of the paper. Chapter 2 is review of the literatures and analytical framework for the research. Literature reviews discuss about definitions of microfinance and microfinance institution, the approaches can be taken by a microfinance institution in order to serve the clients, the models of microfinance institutions, the types of microfinance institutions in Indonesia and the pyramid of them in relation to potential customers and performance indicators. Analytical framework discusses about the way in which the research will be achieved. Chapter 3 is the microfinance institutions in Indonesia which contains their brief history and recent condition. Chapter 4 is analysis of the role of BPRs in financing micro, small and medium enterprises which contains overview of the chapter, data source for the analysis, methodology of the analysis, some information about commercial banks and BPRs, and analyzing to answer the research questions. Chapter 5 is conclusion.   Chapter 2   Literature Review and Analytical Framework 2.1  Literature Review There are many definitions about microfinance proposed by several researchers and institutions. This paper uses some definitions given by Robinson, Ledgerwood, Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to describe microfinance. Robinson (Robinson 2001: 9) defined microfinance as small size financial services (mainly saving and credit) given to people who having farm or fish or herd; people who running micro or small enterprises which producing, recycling, repairing or selling goods; people who offering services; people who working for commissions or wages; people who having earnings from renting the land, vehicles, draft animals, or machinery and equipment; and people or other individuals and groups from both rural and urban areas at the local level from the developing countries. Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP)[7] which uses terminology â€Å"poor people† and Ledgerwood which uses terminology â€Å"low-income clients† pointed out to person who receives basic financial services from microfinance including self-employed people. Furthermore, Ledgerwood (Ledgerwood 1999: 1) stated that definition of microfinance comprises not only in financial intermediation but also in social intermediation. Many of microfinance institutions (MFIs)[8] provide this social intermediation function (i.e., group arrangement, self-confidence development, training to enhance capabilities and to increase capacities in terms of financial literacy and managements) go along with financial intermediation. Moreover, she argued that microfinance is a development instrument and it is not just banking.   Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Santoso et al. 2005: 7) defined microfinance into two understandings. Firstly, it refers to an institution when it designates to an organization which offer financial services or banking products, especially loans to the poor people. Secondly, it uses for different methods or activities which assigned to the poor people in order to access financial services. The poor people usually ask for loans, meanwhile commercial banks do not qualify them for loans. These understandings are close to each other. An institution which provides products for poor people called as microfinance institution. The usage of products (i.e., credits) which is provided by MFIs will be beneficial for poor people in generating more earnings.   Ledgerwood (Ledgerwood 1999: 65-66) stated that the approaches that can be done by microfinance institutions can be divided into two main categories: the minimalist approach or integrated approach. When MFIs do minimalist approach, they only perform functions of financial intermediation, although sometimes they offer social intermediation in limited services. Premise that underlie this approach is a-single missing piece that can be offered by MFIs to the clients in the form of access to credit for them due to the clients are getting less coverage of services from financial institutions, for instance to grow enterprises. On the other hand, integrated approach is a combination of four aspects those are social and financial intermediation, enterprise development and social services. Thus, it is needed a holistic view of the client when a MFI taking this approach. If MFIs are not able to meet all four services, MFIs only offer services that are really needed by the client as long as this service in line with goal and objective of MFIs. Since the large-scale demand for services microfinance activities is in existence, the activities are shown in many countries. The poor people are usually un-bankable, because of such conditions: low skills, poor capacity and severe inabilities. They might not be served in the commercial banking system. It is because the system needs for formal requirements, along with the proper economic scale and certain guarantee. In official terms, this kind of market is un-named and un-served. There are niche markets for the supply of services for MFIs (Santoso et al. 2005: 8). Clients of microfinance institution can not be classified as the poorest of the poor. Generally, they are self-employed and low-income entrepreneur, including; traders, food vendors at the street side, small farmers, small producers and artisan who produce souvenirs in at tourism area and so on. The nature of their business usually provides a stable source of income (Ledgerwood 1999: 2). In various forms, income is provided by micro enterprises owned by the poor. This is done by providing employment. The recycling and repairing better than littering a good, making cheap food, clothing, and transportation to be available are some examples. It is also made to them who are from the low level of formal sector that are usually very difficult to live with their salaries. The people of this kind of life are often can cope with such a problem with the typical cases mentioned above, but can not handle the more serious problem. The other types of problem that are often found are deficiency of capital, skill, official status, and business security. In the meantime, naturally they already have the ability to face sharp business sense, strong life skills, long hard work practice, market knowledge, extensive communication and informal support networks. They also used to have the ability to live supported by their flexibility basic consideration (Robinson 2001: 12). A recent study in Bosnia and Herzegovina carried out by Hartarska and Nadolnyak (Hartarska and Nadolnyak 2008) used the financing constraint approach. The approach states that microenterprises that have good access to credit will be less rely on internal funding in their investment. Using the Living Standards Measurement Survey and the existence of the MFIs in their area, they compare sensitivity of investment to internal funds in the microenterprises which there are MFIs in municipalities they located to microenterprises which there is no MFIs in municipalities they located. They concluded that the MFIs reduce the constraint of microenterprises funding when they are exist close to business. There are some models of microfinance institutions. The first model is Grameen Bank. This model is founded in many countries, especially in Bangladesh, from which it established for the first time by Muhammad Junus. In determining target poor clients, Grameen Bank will do it carefully which is usually done through a series of tests. Loans are given to the group in which each group typically consists of five people and each member of the group guarantee the loan of the other members. This model intensively requires supervision and motivation from the staff to the group borrowers. The second model is Village Bank. An implementing agency establish individual village bank together with 30-50 people and sets capital for on-lending to other members. Repayments of the loan are usually in a week until 16 weeks whereas the village bank pays the principal plus interest to implementing agency. The third model is Credit Unions (CUs). Credit Unions are non-profit financial cooperatives which owned and controlled by its members. Besides saving, CU also provides loans for both productive and non-productive purposes to the members. The membership of CUs compared to Grameen Bank is more heterogeneous and usually based on similar bond. The fourth model is ‘self-help’ groups (SHGs). This model is close to the second model, village bank, although their structure is less well compared to the village bank.  The membership of SHGs is based on the similarity in income and the number of membership approximately 20 people. In principle, they use internal funding, that is saving, to lend it to the members, even though they can also seek external funding as additional source of funds. Several NGOs are facilitating and promoting SHGs, but basically, SHGs are directed as an independent institution. The task of seeking additional financing from outside is usually helped by NGOs which link between SHGs and other external parties or other funding agencies. This NGO’s job close related to social intermediary function they have, while other NGOs are functioned as financial intermediaries which funding SHGs  (Conroy 2003: 4-5). In terms of forms, microfinance institutions can be classified as bank (government and commercial), nonbank financial institution, saving and loan cooperative, credit union and nongovernmental organization. Pawnbrokers, rotating saving and credit association, and moneylender also part of MFIs and hold significant roles in functioning financial intermediation although they are more informal in legal status (Ledgerwood 1999: 1). In Indonesia, several institutions have already served microfinance services for such a long period. Those institutions can be divided into four types. The first type is formal microfinance institutions (MFIs). This type of MFI is regulated and supervised as banking institution and therefore their activities as financial intermediaries subject to banking regulation and supervision. Such institutions included in this type are BRI Unit (state-owned microbank), commercial banks with microfinance services and Rural Bank (Bank Perkreditan Rakyat/BPR). The second type is semi formal MFIs which registered and or licensed by state authorities or local governments, therefore they are not regulated by banking authority (Bank Indonesia). Including in this type are cooperatives, Islamic-based cooperatives (Baitul Maal wat Tamwil/BMT), rural credit institution (Badan Kredit Desa/BKD) and microfinance owned and managed by NGOs. The third type is informal MFIs that operate outside the framework of government regulation, among others, are credit union, rotating credit and saving association (ROSCA), moneylenders, landlords and so on. The fourth type is microcredit programs established by the government in channeling credit to subsidize the poor through a variety of institutions (Nugroho 2008: 181-182). Further explanation about these four microfinance services especially the first three types of MFIs will be presented in chapter 3.   In Figure 1 we can see the pyramid of microfinance institutions with their potential customers in Indonesia. The top layer shows formal MFIs (BRI Unit, Rural Banks/ BPRs and LDKPs). They provide financial services for the top level of microfinance market. This type of MFIs is intended to serve small business which has characterized with stable income flows; therefore these MFIs’ potential clients are non-poor and not so poor people. In the middle layer, semi- formal MFIs serve microfinance services for the poor households. This layer includes rural credit institutions (Bank Kredit Desa/BKD), cooperatives, BMT and NGOs. Clients in this layer are characterized by unstable flow of income. At the bottom layer of the pyramid the huge number of potential clients which need microfinance services. They are very poor people which are characterized by unpredictable income. They need the microfinance services in order to ensure their uncertain income, so they need a small loan to overcom e the difficulties of life (Nugroho 2008: 184-185). Figure 1: The Pyramid of Microfinance Services in Indonesia Source: BI and GTZ (2000) cited in Nugroho (2008) As mentioned above, Rural Bank (Bank Perkreditan Rakyat/BPR) is one of the formal types of microfinance in Indonesia. Its existence is established by Banking Act number 7 of 1992 as amended by Banking Act number 10 of 1998. The main goal of the rural bank is to serve small business and rural communities. In order to deliver their services to the customers, a microfinance institution requires a good performance. This performance can be seen from some indicators. Looking at these indicators, we can decide how well they not only can do financially but also it can also build the future performance goals. There are a large number of performance indicators that can be used by MFIs in measuring the financial performance. One of the principles that can be used is the CAMEL system, ACCION. This system examines five traditional aspects which are regarded as the most important thing in the practices of the financial intermediaries. The five aspects (capital adequacy, asset quality, management, earnings, and liquidity) be the sign of the financial condition and operational strength of the MFI in common (Ledgerwood 1999: 205,227,229). 2.2  Analytical Framework Based on the theoretical framework that has been presented in the previous section, the author uses Figure 2 below describing the analytical framework used in the research which answering the research questions asked. There are two parties involved in the financial market.  On one hand, there is a supply side which is financial institutions that act as financial intermediation agents or it might be function as other than financial intermediation like social intermediation or something else. These financial institutions include commercial banks, non-banks financial institutions (insurances company, ventura capital, etc), and microfinance institutions (in different types and forms). On the other hand, on the demand side, there are some parties that require financing for different purposes, among others for working capital and investment usage which is belongs to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The problem is that not all of these financial institutions allow MSMEs as their client due to several requirements which can not be fulfilled by MSMEs (collateral and bureaucratic procedures, for instances) or it might be comes from the MSMEs itself that no need too much funds (small financing). Here, microfinance institutions fit with the need of MSMEs. The mechanism then runs as common supply and demand in the market: MFIs, as financial intermediaries, offer credit or loan to MSMEs. Furthermore, MSMEs use the loan for running their operational activities (working capital usage) or for accumulating their physical capital (investment usage). At the end of the story, output of MSMEs will contribute to national income (GDP) and at the same time generates income for the owners and employees. Figure 2: Analytical Framework of the Research: Supply and Demand in Financial Market Source: author’s graph This paper focuses on the supply side of particular financial intermediaries in the financial market those are microfinance institutions. In other words, using Ledgerwood’s terminology mentioned in literature review, the paper mainly looks at the role of MFIs in terms of â€Å"minimalist approach†; how they perform as financial intermediations in delivering credit or loan. Special attention given to Rural Banks, one of formal MFIs in Indonesia in allocating their credit to different types of enterprises such as micro, small, medium and large enterprises. There are several reasons why this paper discusses on Rural Banks as unit of analysis. Firstly, it is states in the regulation (Banking Act) that the main objective of Rural Banks is to serve small scale business and looking into the pyramid of MFIs appeared in Figure 1. It means that Rural Banks have a specialization as small scale business’ banking, especially micro enterprises. This paper wants to see to which extent this mission is successfully executed. Secondly, Rural Banks are the second largest microfinance institutions in terms of asset, third party funds collected and number of debtors. According to Bank Indonesia (2008)[9], they posses 35% of total MFIs’ assets; 30.43% of third party funds collected on total MFIs and 29.15% of total number debtors on total MFIs.   This study proposes two research questions. The first research question relates to the role of rural banks as financial intermediaries in delivering credit to different types of business especially micro and small enterprises. In addressing the first research question, the paper uses comparative analysis and simple calculations in terms of credit disbursement for both commercial banks and rural banks so that the share (percentage) of credit allocation to different types of enterprises to be known. In order to obtain the result, some criteria and assumption are applied in the study. This is done due to there is no data available about the definite amount of credit disbursed by either Rural Banks or commercial banks to different type of enterprises. The discussion focuses only on the amount of credit allocation, so that other variables that determine the credit such as interest rate, collateral, and so forth are not discussed in this study.   The second research question indicates the performance indicators of rural banks in relation to credit provision to micro enterprises. These indicators include; Loan to Deposit Ratio (LDR), Returns on Assets Ratio (ROA) and Non-Performing Loan Ratio (NPL) which refer to Director of Bank Indonesia Decree number 30/12/Kep/Dir and Bank Indonesia’s Letter No. 30/3/UPPB about Rural Banks Soundness Evaluation. Furthermore, comparison will be made between these indicators and criteria. Chapter 3 Microfinance Institutions in Indonesia 3.1  Microfinance Institutions in Indonesia As developing country, Indonesia has long experience and history in developing microfinance institution which has made it possible for poor or low-income people to overcome financial constraints and to access financial institutions. For this condition, some researchers like Berenbach and Churchill called that Indonesia is â€Å"the most developed market for microfinance services in the world† (Barenbach and Churchill 1997 as cited in (Santoso et al. 2005: 43)). The development of microfinance institution began for the first time in Dutch colonial era when several well-educated local people saw deteriorating economy happened in their community and they looked for the need of this services and started organize it. The two famous institutions best known as pioneer in microfinance institutions and exist since colonial era are cooperative and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI). As mentioned in chapter 2, microfinance institutions in Indonesia can be classified into four types (Nugroho 2008), those are; formal microfinance institutions, semiformal MFIs, informal MFIs and microcredit program which is established by the government for delivering credit to poor people through several institutions. In this chapter the latter type of MFI will not be discussed. The discussion is emphasizes on three other institutions. Formal MFIs are financial intermediary institutions which refer and subject to banking regulation and therefore supervised by Bank Indonesia. Semiformal MFIs are not regulated by Bank Indonesia as a banking authority, but they are licensed and or registered by other state authorities or local government. Informal MFIs operate outside government regulations. Nugroho (Nugroho 2008) described institutions which include in each type of MFI as follows: formal MFIs including BRI Unit, Rural Bank (BPR) and The Rural Credit Fund Institutions (Lembaga Dana Kredit Pedesaan/LDKP); semiformal MFIs covering rural credit institution (Badan Kredit Desa/ BKD), microfinance NGO, credit cooperatives including Islamic-based cooperatives (Baitul Maal wat Tamwil/BMT); informal MFIs including credit unions, rotating credit and saving association (ROSCA), moneylenders, traders and landlords. Table 3.1 provides map of microfinance institutions by types in Indonesia in terms of units and their financial services. Bank Rakyat Indonesia Unit Lembaga Dana Kredit Perdesaan (LDKP) – The Rural Credit Fund Institutions The Rural Credit Fund Institutions (LDKP) is the term of credit fund institution that operates in rural area, including a variety of non bank microfinance institutions with different names, ownership, organization, services and outreach, that was established on initiatives of provincial government. LDKP belongs to provincial, district or village government which, in their operation, have to obtain license from and was regulated by provincial government within the national regulatory framework. they get technical support and supervision from regional development bank (BPD) which are owned by provincial government.. since it was established in 1970s, the number of LDKP getting less from 1978 to 630 in 2000, this decrease due to the conversion of LDKP to peoples cerdit banks(BPR) and recently only about one quarter of LDKP  have become banks. The Badan  Kredit Desa (BKD) BKD is a profitable and sustainable village level financial institution that provide financial services with a outreach to low income people. it was operated by a committee that controlled by head of village and have sustained the operation since colonial era. On behalf of Bank Indonesia, BRI branch offices supervise and provide technical assistance  for BKD. in 1970s indonesian government did not pay much attention to this system. instead, the government  give more attention to the cooperative system. this make hard for BKD system to developed. in 1990s BRI tried to revive BKD by providing basic capital, improving administrative system and introducing new saving instruments, however, 1992 banking act burden the expanding BKD system. BKD is recognized as peoples credit bank (BPR) and has been operating as a licensed and regulated bank  since 1992 banking act but the frame work setting, supervision and technical assistance has not changed since 2000. Cooperatives Here, the brief history of cooperative in Indonesia refers to Santoso et al (2005) and Ministry of Cooperative, Small and Medium Enterprises’ website (www.depkop.go.id, 2009) as references. The thought of cooperative was delivered for the first time by Patih R. Aria Wiriatmaja at Purwokerto, a small town in Central Java, in 1896. Then, De Wolffvan Westerrode continued his efforts. In 1908, the year of national movement, Dr. Sutomo founded Budi Utomo which played a significant role for cooperatives improving the life of society. Then, Verordening op de Cooperatieve Vereeniging was established. Twelve years after that, in 1927, another type of cooperative called Regelling Inlandsche Cooperatieve was launched. In the same year, to develop bargaining power among local entrepreneurs, Islamic Trader Union (Serikat Dagang Islam) was established. Indonesian National Party (Partai Nasional Indonesia) which had activities in promoting cooperative spirit was established in 1929. 3.2  Bank Perkreditan Rakyat (BPR) Brief History Steinwand (Steinwand 2001) provided detail periodical history about Rural Bank. He divided the history into four parts of periods; the evolution of the colonial BPR (1895-1945), the period from independence to financial sector reform (1945-1983), the period from financial sector reform to financial crisis (1983-1999) and at the present condition. Rural Bank Position in Financial System in Indonesia Chapter 4   Analysis of the Role of Bank Perkreditan Rakyat (BPR) in Financing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises 4.1  Overview Chapter 4 consists of 6 sections which each section aimed to answer the research questions. Section 1 is a general information about what will be discussed in this chapter; section 2 discusses about the source of the data used in the analysis; section 3 is the methodology; section 4 is about overview the condition of Bank Perkreditan Rakyat (BPRs) and commercial banks (CBs) in Indonesia using selected indicators, third party funds and credits; section 5 tries to reply the first research question by using comparative analysis between commercial banks and BPRs; and section 6 is the last section which answering the second research question about the performance indicators of

Black Death :: European Europe History

Black Death Since the reign of Emperor Justinian in 542 A.D., man has one unwelcome organism along for the ride, Yersinia pestis. This is the bacterium more commonly know as the Black Death, the plague. Plague is divided into three biotypes, each associated with one of three major pandemics occurring in history. Each of these biotypes are then divided into three distinct types, classified by method of infection. The most widely know is bubonic, an infection of plague that resides in the lymph nodes, causing them to swell. The Black Death of the 14th century was mainly of this type. Bubonic plague is commonly spread through fleas that have made a meal from an infected Rattus rattus. The most dangerous type of plague is pneumonic. It can be spread through aerosol droplets released through coughs, sneezes, or through fluid contact. It may also become a secondary result of a case of untreated bubonic or septicemic plague. Although not as common as the bubonic strain, it is more deadly. It has an untreated mortality rate on nearly 100%, as compared to 50% untreated mortality for bubonic plague. It attacks the respiratory track, furthering the cycle. The third type of plague is septemic. It is spread by direct bodily fluid contact. It may also develop as a secondary result of untreated bubonic or pneumonic plague. A LITTLE HISTORY As mentioned before, the most known incidence of bubonic plague was in 14th century Europe. In 1346 reports of a terrible pestilence in China, spreading through Mesopotamia and Asia Minor had reached Europe, but caused no concern until two years later. In January of 1348 the plague had reached Marseille in France and Tunis in Africa. By the end of the next year the plague had reached as far as Norway, Scotland, Prussia, Iceland, and Italy. In 1351 the infection had spread to include Russia. The plague was an equal opportunity killer. In Avignon nine bishops were killed, King Alfonso XI of Castile succumbed, and peasants died wherever they lay. Though the plague had, for the most part, ceased less than ten years after it started, it killed nearly one third of the European population. In many towns the dead outnumbered the living. Bodies piled in the streets faster than nuns, monks, and relatives could bury them. Many bodies were interred in mass graves, overflowing with dead, or dumped into nearby rivers.

The Road Not Taken Vs. Mother To Son Essay -- essays research papers

Paths are Like Stairs   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although they portray two very different writing styles, Robert Frost’s â€Å"The Road Not Taken† and Langston Hughes’s â€Å"Mother to Son† have a few things in common, especially their meanings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In â€Å"The Road not Taken† Frost speaks of a time in his life where he had to make a choice, a choice of which direction his life was about to go: â€Å"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood / And sorry I could not travel both† (1-2). â€Å"Mother to Son† also speaks of life in a metaphorical way, but as a staircase rather than two paths: â€Å"Well, son, I’ll tell you / Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair† (1-2).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Later in â€Å"The Road Not Taken† Frost describes the appearance of each road, one as being less traveled on than the other by people before him who had to make the same decision: â€Å"And looked down one as far as I could / Then took the other, just as fair / Because it was grassy and wanted wear† (4,6,8). â€Å"Mother to Son† takes it another step as to describe the staircase the mother had to climb. She explains how hard it was but also how she never gave up: â€Å"It’s had tacks in it / And splinters / And boards torn up / But all the time / I’se been a-climbin’ on† (3-5,8-9).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Road Not Taken† ends by giving a moral to us about Frost’s life and the path he did take. Although Frost doesn’t thoroughly explain the path he took, the reader ...

Discussion of Architectural Movements

Question 1: See the impact of the Industrial Revolution on 19th century architecture. Your reply should research the manner in which edifices could be constructed, every bit good as the new demands being made upon architecture. The 19th century brought an age of uncertainness, assurance apparent in the elegant architecture of the 18th C had diminished, rejecting abnormality and polychrome, and was subjected to a period of architectural eclectic method. The birth of this sought after manner would let elements to be retained from old historic case in points, returning to the manner of Michelangelo etc. , whilst making something that is new andoriginal, forming manners of Neo-Classical and Neo-Gothic. This ability to make a merger of manners allowed for look devised through creative activity, notreminiscence ; normally elected based on its propensity to the undertaking and overall aesthetic value, seeking to reconstruct order and restraint to architecture. Another Influence can be traced from the industrial revolution, a clip of rapid alteration, sing dramatic fluctuation and experimentation. With Changes in fabrication, conveyance, engineering, there was a profound effect on the societal economic sciences and cultural conditions. The urban population radically increased, with metropoliss likewise multiplying in size and figure. The effects for these new spread outing metropoliss was monolithic overcrowding. Factory proprietors were required to supply a big measure of inexpensive houses, ensuing in dumbly packedterraces, constructed to a low criterion. The enlargement of mass industry brought the potency of new constructing engineerings such as dramatis personae Fe, steel, and glass, with which designers and applied scientists devised constructions antecedently un-reached in both map, size, and signifier. Consequently, stuffs could be mass produced quickly and cheaply, non merely being applied to things like bricks, but besides Fe colu mns, glass panels etc. , intending constructions of all types could be constructed quicker and cheaper than of all time earlier. This generated a new potency of standardized designs, created from indistinguishable mill constituents, which could be mass produced bettering the efficiency of building clip but non needfully the quality. Through the rise of the revolution, architecture was now exposed to a magnitude of new building methods. Structures dwelling of metal columns and beams no longer needed walls for structural support, glass could be fashioned in larger sizes volumes and dense constructions could be replaced by skeleton constructions ; doing it possible to make antecedently restricted tallness and width really rapidly, utilizing pre-fabricated elements. However, this new architecture lacked in imaginativeness and manner as the focal point was cast towards functionality. An illustration of this new engineering was The Crystal Palace 1851. It was a glass and Fe collector's item, with pre-fabricated parts that could be mass-produced and erected quickly. This dazzled the 1000000s of visitants go throughing through its doors as it stood in blazing disparity to old monolithic rock building. Crystal Palace became the foundation for modern architecture, its transparence signified a sense of ‘no boundaries ’ . Question 2: Chart the cardinal features of the Art Nouveau motion in architecture. To what extent was this motion influential in the move towards International Modernism? The architectural manner of Art Nouveau foremost arouse in Europe, bring forthing its most originative stage between 1893 and 1905. Art Nouveau repelled against old classical Hellenic and Roman rules, rejecting the rigorous and formal ideals, which had been prevailing during much of the 19th C. It was established on the merger of formal inspiration from the English Arts and Crafts, every bit good as the structural importance of Gallic Rationalism, and the structural abstraction from nature, which was perceived as the best beginning of stimulation and aesthetic principals. Architects found their inspiration in the expressive organic signifiers that emphasised humanity ‘s natural aspiration, with dominate ornate embroideries, curvilineal signifiers, and design motives based on conventionalized workss and flowers. Art Nouveau manner architecture can be identified by specific basicss and separating factors which led to omnipresent cultural urges, looking throughout its life clip, n evertheless there is no individual definition or significance behind it. The manner originated from the reaction to a kingdom of art which was dominated by precise geometrical composings of Neo-Classical ideals. In hunt of a new design linguistic communication, constructs evolved distant from historical and classical restraints employed by old faculty members and current case in points. Alternatively designs were characterized by graceful, sinuate lines filled with irregular way, which were seldom angular. This was accompanied by violent curves ; rhythmic forms of curved, fluid lines that connect beautified field points, such as entrywaies and dramatis personae columns. The doctrine of Art Nouveau was in proviso of using delicate beauty to commonplace objects, in order for beautiful objects to be crystalline to all. No entity was excessively useful to be beautified, it was non merely apparent in external architecture butinterior ornamentsdisplayed its criterions as good. The inclination led towards organic capable affair, flowers, foliages, vines, and oth er organic images embellished architecture with each characteristic obtaining a different visual aspect ; a rapper moulded to look like a darning needle, birds etched into window frames, abstract lilies floating about stairwell bannisters. The manner embraces a assortment of stylistic readings ; some designers choosing for new low-priced stuffs with the aspiration of mass production, whilst others used more expensive stuffs valuing high workmanship. A assortment of motions continued to scout incorporate organic design, including DeStijl, and the Bauhaus School, nevertheless this shortly declined. Art Nouveau constituted a major measure towards the rational and stylistic invention of modern architecture, interrupting the tendency of looking backwards, which emphasised map over signifier and the riddance of otiose adornment. The stylistic basicss progressed into the simpler, rationalised signifiers of modernism. Theunderlying basicss of the art nouveau construct, of a exhaustively incorporate environment, remains a important component of modern-day modernism today. Question 3: With mentions to illustrations of his reinforced work, explore Le Corbusier’s ‘Five Points of a New Architecture’ . Le Corbusier’s foremost principle expressions at the system of structural support, it suggests that a differentiation can instantly be made between elements. Therefore back uping walls can be replaced by a grid of columns, spaced out at specific, equal intervals that withholds the structural burden. By promoting the land floor, it is thereby removed from the moistness land and is now to subject to visible radiation and air and accordingly the landscape can go on to flux beneath whilst deriving extra level roof infinite. The 2nd rule identifies the demand for the level roof to be utilised for a domestic intent such as a roof patio or garden, later intending that infinite lost in built up countries can be recovered. This country will expose epicurean organic flora, nevertheless it provides a structural intent supplying indispensable protection to the concrete roof. Resulting rain can now be controlled, fluxing off bit by bit down drain pipes, concealed within the inside of the e difice. The 3rd rule provinces that, due to fortunes made clear in the first rule, interior walls can now be placed where required, each floor being wholly independent to the following. The absence of back uping walls allows unrestrained freedom within the internal design. The forth rule dictates that the facade can be lifted from its structural map, leting the freedom of design separated from its original outside. By projecting the floor beyond its system of structural supports the whole facade is extended, losing its supportive quality, the facade therefore is free from limitations. The 5th rule determines that the facade can be intersect with horizontal window running the full length, widening from support to back up. These rectangular gaps allow plentiful sums of visible radiation and air, accomplishing equally illuminated suites of maximal light and hence taking the demand for perpendicular Windowss. We can picture the development of these rules through some of his reinforced work, foremost with his experimentation with Maison Citrohan, 1922. Through legion paradigms le Corbusier dramas with presenting this typical characteristics. Villa Stein 1926, is the first full illustration of these rules. Built around a rigorous grid of structural columns, the Villa features an unfastened program layout with roof patio protected by screens. The concrete construction obtains strips of thread Windowss, nevertheless that land beneath has been to the full consumed by the Villa. The Villa Savoye 1929, visibly embodies all five points of the new aesthetic. The majority of the construction is supported above the land by slender reinforced concrete piles. The house conceals an unfastened floor program that culminates a roof garden, counterbalancing for the green infinite lost beneath. Finally, the clean white facade embodies the typical thread windows that allow unobstructed positions.

Bowling Alone

This essay deals with the correlation between a healthy, progressive society and one that is engaged civilly with sociological matters and ties. The statistics expressed in Putnam's essay show a rather rapid decline in our societies' civil engagement in the last quarter century. Putnam emphasizes the valiant importance of a strong and active society for growth and development in a democracy. Without further social development Americans could deteriorate their once strong, socially engaged society down to a individualistic democracy that would shatter our national image.Putnam's essay is titled, â€Å"Bowling Alone†, he gives emphasis, and depth to this title in several different ways throughout his article. Perhaps, the most interesting and whimsical piece of information that he shares though is a bowling statistic. More contemporary Americans are bowling than ever before in history, although, bowling in organized leagues has plummeted in the last decade. Between 1980 and 1993 the total number of bowlers in America increased by 10 percent, while league bowling decreased by 40 percent.This statistic, that shows the rise of solo bowling threatens the very, livelihood of bowling business proprietors because many of those people who bowl as members of leagues consume three times as much beer and pizza. Common knowledge then comes into play, the profit money in bowling does not derive from the balls and shoes but rather the other expenditures such as, beer and pizza. The broader social significance, in this matter though, however lies in the social communication and conversations that can derive from beer and pizza, as compared to solo bowlers.Putnam offers other information that supports his claim, besides bowling statistics. In some parts of the essay, he shares that organizational groups, as a whole have experienced a massive decline in new membership, over the last quarter century. Church-related groups are the most common type of organization joined by A mericans, women especially. Other examples of popular organizations frequently joined by Americans are, school service groups, sports groups, professional societies, literary groups, labor unions, fraternal groups, and veterans' groups. All of these organizational groups share one common trait, a decline in new membership.There are consequences that ensue after a society begins, to lose it civilly engaged citizens, for private, less trusting ones. In a survey done, over 35 countries, it shows that social trust and civic engagement are strongly correlated. The greater the amount of associational membership in a society, the more trusting its citizens, are likely to be. Trust and engagement are two components of the same underlying factor, social capital. America is still ranked relatively high by cross-national standards in both areas of social capital; and its citizens are more trusting and more engaged than people in most other parts of the world, still.What, these trends show in t he past quarter- century, however, have placed United States significantly lower in the international rankings of social capital. An alarming possibility that this information provides is in another quarter-century at this rate of change, America could be roughly equivalent to South Korea, Belgium, or Estonia today. Two generations' decline at the same rate would leave the United States at the level of today's Chile, Portugal, and Slovenia. Putnam does not offer any concrete solutions to these current trends, but he shares his advice and wisdom on such a complex problem.Giving more responsibility to the institutions that raise our children could be the answer. Perhaps finding new ways to reach younger generations at a more significant point in childhood could curve this trend. For example, instituting more programs and organizations rather than the typical sports or academic activities, offered. Reshaping the classroom and offering more social progressive classes could play a signif icant role in instilling a strong social reinforcing importance to a young person. Another possibility for a helpful change in this current trend could be given in a representative media source, for the people, by the people.There is no doubt that our current media today seems to be a giant circus that focuses only on irrelevant issues and seeks only high ratings. Perhaps, a media source that actually is not focused on getting ratings or pushing certain agendas on Americans could be the answer. Most news sources today seem to disinterest many Americans with blown up stories, and each stations political ideologies. Creating a station with no bias, giving direct information to the people about real issues in this country could generate more interest in our country's politics.Television has the ability to reach more people than any other source in the world, why not use it to reach the social outcry in America? and be a solution rather than the problem. In conclusion, Putnam's essay of fers a non-bias factual account of a growing problem that future generations may face. There is no clear solution to this debate, what is clear though, however, is the significance of this issue. To solve this, it will take many solutions and variables. Counter trends have shown what lies ahead, new social groups must take the supremacy and give it power.