How can Wal-Mart Keep Low Prices

When Sam Walton opened his first store, the Five and Dime, he had no idea that he would become a success. He started his first store with one vision – to keep prices as low as possible. He knew that by keeping the prices low, his profit would not be as large as his competitor’s but he also knew that he could compensate this by the volume of sales. Soon he was opening new stores in other states and its sales reached millions of dollars. At present, Wal-mart is the biggest corporation surpassing its competitors (Jim Hightower) It has over more than a hundred retail stores all over the world making the Waltons some of the richest people in the world. S. Robson Walton is ranked by London’s â€Å"Rich List 2001† as the wealthiest human on the planet having more than $65 billion surpassing Bill Gates. (Jim Hightower) Its present status was however not attained overnight. There were several strategies adopted by Wal-Mart which made it the world’s largest retailer. The first is the use of technology. Wal-Mart was the first to use the Universal Bar Code system. As the largest retailer, Wal-Mart was able to force manufacturers of products to adopt a common labeling called the bar code. The bar code contains details about the product which tells the retailers information such as how many of the said products have been sold and how many are still remaining. This system helped improve the way inventories are done in stores. With the bar code system, retail store owners no loner need to hire employees to conduct the inventory and the inventory system is now more accurate. Another business strategy adopted by Wal-Mart to keep prices low is its adoption of the corporate culture of frugality. The Waltons were very careful about spending their money and they lived a very simple lifestyle. They also demanded frugality from their employees. Frugality is so imbedded in its culture that even the company’s headquarters is located in Arkansas which is very old and looks dull. The executives of the company do not ride in fancy limousines and nor do they reside in expensive hotels. Instead, the executives shared budget-hotel rooms with their colleagues. (Caroline Wilbert) The corporate culture of frugality was manifested in the way the wages of their employees are being paid. It is said that the company pays an average wage of $9. 68 an hour which is definitely not enough for the employees to maintain a decent standard of living. (Gregory Heires) There have been complaints that the said company even compels its employees and managers to work overtime without paying them additional compensation for overtime work. The employees do not have adequate health care insurance and other benefits. Health care insurances are essential especially for employees who are earning barely enough for their daily living. Even if these employees get sick they will get some help from health care providers for their medicine and hospitalization expenses. Research, however, shows that â€Å"Wal-Mart's health insurance covers 44% or approximately 572,000 of its 1. 3 million U. S. workers. [In comparison, Wal-Mart rival Brown & Cole Stores insures approximately 96% of its 2,000 eligible workers. Further, Wal-Mart spends an average of $3,500 per employee for health care, 27% less than the retail-industry average of $4,800. †(â€Å"Wal-Mart†) Wal-Mart adopted an aggressive policy against labor unions. The role of unions in workplaces is very important. They ensure that the employees are given the wages and benefits which the law gives them. It is said that in North America, Wal-Mart has thwarted efforts to create union through aggressive anti-union tactics such as managerial surveillance and pre-emptive closures of stores or departments who choose to unionize. (â€Å"Wal-Mart†) Initially, Wal-Mart advertised the â€Å"Buy American† campaign. However, in order to maintain its low prices, Wal-Mart had to look for other suppliers which offered products for a lesser price than the suppliers in the United States. Eventually Wal-Mart began looking at other countries for the cheapest source of production. In 1995, Wal-Mart said that 6 percent of its total merchandise was imported. A decade later, experts estimated that Wal-Mart imported about 60 percent of its merchandise. (Caroline Wilbert) Today, Wal-Mart is considered the largest importer of Chinese-made products in the world, buying $10 billion worth of merchandise from several thousand Chinese factories. (Jim Hightower) There is, however, a price for the success of this management policy of Wal-Mart. For the company to maintain low prices for its buyers and customers, it has to reduce its expenses in the barest minimum – including wages, benefits, working conditions, supplies and products. As a result, Wal-Mart has been criticized worldwide for its business policies by other business organization, religious organization. Among the issues raised against it are: a) low wages it pays to its employees, cases of union busting, lack of health care and employee benefits, use of foreign labor, discrimination against women, It bears stressing that the current management policy of Wal-Mart is devastating for the millions of its employees worldwide. Though it may have generated employment, it has also created unemployment insofar as the employees of their competitors are concerned. For its existing employees, their working condition is far from being ideal. The purpose of this research project is to prove that it is possible for Wal-Mart to improve the wages and benefits it gives to its employees and at the same time maintain the prices of their products low. The philosophy is clear and definite – Wal-Mart can maintain the low prices of its products without hurting its employees. The persons who will be interested in this research project are not only the employees who will be benefited by the increase in their wages and benefits but also the consumers who desire to ensure that the prices of products in Wal-Mart remain the same. II. I believe that it is possible for Wal-Mart to improve the wages and benefits it gives to its thousands of employees and at the same time maintain the prices of their products low. As proof, I aim to use studies made by economists and researchers. One potential secondary source that will prove the said point is the studies conducted by the Economic Policy Institute which is cited in the article of Emily Kaiser entitled â€Å"US: Wal-Mart Could Hike Pay and Keep Prices Low: Study. † Researchers have also concluded that if only Wal-Mart would reduce its profit margin to about 2. 9%, where it stood in 1997, from the 3. 6% margin it recorded last year that would free up about $2. 3 billion to pay workers without raising prices. † (Emily Kaiser) The primary research tool that could be used for this research is the examination into the Income Statement of the Wal-Mart Inc. These are public documents which could be looked into by any citizen. By examining the company’s Income Statement, we will be able to find out just how much money the company is earning in a year. If a small portion of these earnings will only be equitably distributed, then the employees will experience an improvement in their living condition. Another primary research tool are Internet sources which shows the extent of the complaints, criticisms and suits against Wal-Mart. By looking into the information from these sources, one can conclude that the wealth and success of Wal-Mart was made at the expense of its employees.

Challenges being faced as a beginning teacher

National Education ( NE ) was introduced to Singapore Schools in 1997 to develop national coherence, cultivate the inherent aptitude for endurance as a state and instil in our pupils, assurance in our state ‘s hereafter. It besides emphasises on cultivating a sense of belonging and emotional rootedness to Singapore. Many programmes such as Community Involvement Programme ( CIP ) and Learning Journeys were designed to assist schools accomplish such aims and the duty of put to deathing these programmes falls on the instructors. As a beginning instructor, freshly introduced into the profession, challenges are faced in the effort to implement such enterprises. In my sentiment, one major challenge that I would meet is planing activities that infuses a sense of relevance in our pupils – allowing them understand that national coherence is a consequence of the uninterrupted attempts of every Singaporean, and they are a portion of the equation. These pupils were born in the epoch of political and economical stableness, where bulk grew up in environments run intoing their demands and carry throughing most of their wants. Hence, they have the inclination to take their security and wellbeing for granted, doing them unable to grok the battles faced by Singapore in keeping the current success and stableness and the demand for NE. For illustration, most schools in Singapore commemorate nucleus event, Racial Harmony Day through the showcasing of the diversified cultural costumes and playing of cultural games to enable their pupils ‘ in-depth cultural cognition of their equals. Yet, a bulk of them treat the recollection of the twenty-four hours as an chance for an interesting concert and a half-day school, and few genuinely understanding the implicit in principle behind the activities, allow entirely instil a sense of relevance. Amidst the current racial harmonious atmosphere between different racial groups, pupils are unable to gestate the thought of racial public violences, its ‘ impact on Singapore and the importance of racial harmoniousness in a society. They view information relayed through these events as irrelevant and doubt the possibility of the return of such incidents in the current Singapore. It is of a common apprehension that the six NE messages would ever stay as words on paper unless instructors inculcate them into pupils in an piquant mode. Therefore, as a get downing instructor with no anterior experience in the ingraining of NE messages, I feel that the undertaking of planing engaging, merriment and relevant activities would be enormous, with myself holding unequal cognition of the activity thoughts that pupils are receptive to. Instilling a sense of relevance in pupils would be a immense challenge as it is non an easy undertaking to alter pupils ‘ deeply-rooted thought from â€Å" the duty of keeping national coherence autumn merely on the grownups and authorities † to the thought that â€Å" national coherence is the duty of everyone, including pupils † . Students should be taught that societal coherence occurs because each and everyone put in attempt and play our portion in lending to the wellbeing of the state. The issue is relevant to both grownups and pupils. From my personal observation, about all Singapore Schools repeat the same NE programmes for their pupils every twelvemonth, differing merely at the activities to be completed at single degrees. As such, pupils were bored of it, and older pupils particularly, expressed cynicism, and were unresponsive to the programmes. Hence, I feel that the 2nd challenge that I would confront as a get downing instructor in the effort to put to death the enterprises is eliciting pupils ‘ involvement in the engagement of NE-related activities. Unlike the traditional topics that we were taught to learn in the instruction institute, NE is non merely another topic where pupils learn by conventional instruction methods. In fact, pupils understand the constructs in NE better when the activities are prosecuting, merriment and capture their attending. Although pupils reflected that programmes designed by the school ‘s NE commission were everyday, get downing instructors, including myself, are unable to plan and implement new thoughts in topographic point of old 1s, with bing NE models in schools. On the contrary, I would be expected to follow the guidelines and present a similar NE lesson. As a get downing instructor with limited learning experience and teaching methods accomplishments, I would miss the ability in transform these guidelines into prosecuting and interesting lessons on par as that of the experient instructors. Most experient instructors are able to present interesting NE lessons, transforming the repetitive, dull lesson into prosecuting sharing lessons while staying by the guidelines. They reflected on their past instruction experiences, gathered feedback from old batches of pupils, and modified their instruction teaching method consequently to appeal to pupils ‘ involvement. Therefore, pupils ‘ involvements in NE activities are aroused and they participate actively in it. On the other manus, get downing instructors enter schoolrooms today with high outlooks of ourselves and of our pupils. Our learning method would be influenced by single background and assorted learning theories. However, the deficiency of experience in the instruction field would impact the quality of the lesson bringing as I would be unable to accommodate to pupils ‘ demands. In add-on, I would be given to avoid diverting from the model to plan newer, more exciting lessons as I fear for botching the ba lance between merriment and content. After all, the intent of the NE lesson would be defeated if there is more merriment than content. To reason, the aims of NE could be attained through appropriate programmes and it is therefore highly of import to instill a sense of relevance in our pupils and to elicit their involvement in NE activities. When faced with challenges in the effort to implement the policies, get downing instructors should detect, persevere and seek for aid to get the better of them. Through these challenges, we would turn to go better pedagogues and in bend, supply the greatest benefits to the pupils.

Elasticity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Elasticity - Essay Example An equilibrium point of quantity is obtained when the two demand curves are drawn on a single graph. The inelastic demand for the veteran smoker clearly conforms to demand rule; when the price for cigarettes goes up, demand falls and vice versa. (See fig (3) on scanned document) The government always increases the value added tax on cigarettes in order to reduce demand and also contain incidence of increased lung cancer due to smoking. Looking at fig (4) where the current equilibrium price is at three dollars and the quantity demanded is. When the price increases to six dollars, the supply curve  shifts upwards and moves to left to create a new supply curve. This shift and movement show how the markets, specifically suppliers, are reacting to the positive change in price. The quantity demanded by the veteran smoker and the new smoker proportionately reduces. (See fig (5)). The consumer that evidently changes there smoking behavior drastically is the new smoker. As per figure five, when the price rises to six dollars, the shift in supply curve form  to causes the quantity of cigarettes demanded by the veteran smoker to reduce from  as the supply curve moves upwards along the  curve. On the other hand for the new smoker, the shift in supply curve form  to causes the quantity of cigarettes demanded to reduce from. Since, , it is justifiable to say that the new smoker reduces his or a rate of consumption as a result of increase in cigarette price. One can also say due to the fact that the veteran smoker is used to smoking a given number of cigarette packs, changing his or her norm due to price changes will considerably be negligible. The burden of increased price, in most cases is transferred to the consumer in form of value added tax. Increased tax, will usually lead to increase in the cost of raw materials and in turn the producers and suppliers will want to transfer this cost to consumers in form of value added

Why does Stonehenge continue to capture the imagination Essay

Why does Stonehenge continue to capture the imagination - Essay Example The construction on Stonehenge began about 5,000 years ago and was completed about 4,000 years ago. The huge and colossal scale and strange aim of Stonehenge draw the attention of eight hundred thousand visitors every year, and many people visit this monument during summers to view the sunrise at this mystical and ancient site (UNESCO, 2012). The Stonehenge is undoubtedly a spectacular sun rise and sun set view and is obviously seen as a site of worship for the ancient people of Europe. History says nothing about the religion of Stonehenge people but the site became a place for worship and pilgrimage for Neo pagans who recognized themselves as Celtic paganism or Druids. The site is also popular with the people of New Age who say that the site has some powerful energy associated with it. Not only the construction but the location and site of Stonehenge also capture the attention of thousands of people visiting it each year (Stonehenge, 2012). Even today, the construction of Stonehenge is said to be an inspiring achievement of the engineers, requiring time and commitment, and also a huge amount of manual labor. First, there was a huge bank and ditch known as ‘henge’ dug into the surface of Earth around 5,000 years ago. The ditch as made by tools made up of wood or antlers of red deer. The fundamental chalk was united by picks and scooped with shoulder blades of the cattle. Subsequently, it was put into baskets and then moved away (Stonehenge, 2012). In 2000 BC, the very first stone circle (the inner circle) made up of tiny bluestones, was set up, but was discarded even before its completion. The stones which were used for the first circle are thought to be taken from Prescelly Mountains, which are situated almost 240 miles away from the Stonehenge, in the southwestern side of Wales. These bluestones have a weight of about four tons per stone and almost eighty stones are used. Considering the distance and the transportation mood of that time, it was a lot of distance to cover (Heritage). Still today, nobody has been able to give an accurate answer of who built the Stonehenge. It is still a mystery to be solved which makes this place even more eye catching and astonishing. The construction of the monument has been linked to several ancient populations, but the most lasting and appealing ascription has been given to the Druids as described earlier. This wrong conception was brought in by John Aubrey around three centuries ago. Some Roman writers, including Julius Caesar link this construction to Celtic priesthood who grew at the time of their initial conquest in about 55BC. But, the stones were already standing there for 2,000 years by this time, and most probably were in a devastated condition. Furthermore, the Druids were worshippers of forest temples and not stone structures (Stonehenge, 2012). King Arthur’s legends give a reconciliation of Stonehenge construction. It was narrated by Geoffrey, the famous writer of twelft h century, in his book â€Å"History of the Kings of Britain† that the stones were brought in by Merlin from Ireland to Salisbury Plain. During the 5th Century, there was an annihilation of three hundred British noblemen by Hengest (deceitful Saxon leader). According to Geoffrey, king Aurelius Ambrosius wished to make a fitting memorial for the slain men. Merlin came up with a journey to Ireland for the aim of relocating the huge ring stone circle to England. Now Geoffrey says that these stones were brought by giants from Africa as they were so enormous to be a work of human beings. These stones were then situated on â€Å"Mount Killaraus† and were then used as a place for doing rituals and for the purpose of healing. The

Logistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 2

Logistics - Essay Example The essay intends to determine how supply chain capabilities of Johnstons of Elgin, a company dealing with manufacturing and retailing woven as well as knitted products, have enabled it to attain a competitive advantage. Moreover, the extent up to which the business model of Johnstons can be applied to companies in other industries would also be described in the essay based upon the provided case study. Organisations functioning in this modern day context often have to face challenges in developing and delivering quality and innovative products/services to their customers globally with the aim of attaining superior competitive position. Several factors can be found associated as a cause of these challenges. These include increased level of globalisation, pressure created by the competitive forces to innovate technologically advanced production or supply systems and growing complexities in managerial ideologies among others (CEVA, n.d.). In this similar context, supply chain capabilities support the business organisations to attain a superior competitive positioning in the form of offering quality products to the customers by way of focusing more on main competences, recognising the outsourcing trends and following the procedure of vertical disintegration in the operational strategies. As generally believed, proper and effective utilisation of various sorts of supply chain capabilities can certainly aid in making quality procurement decisions, which in turn can enable the modern business organisations to attain a superior competitive positioning over their chief rivals (Crown, 2012). It would be vital to mention that the prime facets of supply chain capabilities not only support the modern business organisations to attain superior competitive positioning but also enables their respective business to sustain in this competitive landscape. In this regard, the characteristics of supply chain capabilities fundamentally

Health and Wellness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Health and Wellness - Essay Example â€Å"The total cost of osteoporosis in the United States alone is estimated to be over $14 billion per year† (Christodoulou & Cooper 133), and is expected to increase with the growing proportion of elderly people. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to identify the symptoms of Osteoporosis, examine how the disease develops, review the latest research on the topic, investigate the costs to community, and express one’s beliefs on the subject. Bone mass is the chief determinant of bone strength. Loss of bone occurs silently and progressively, often without symptoms until the first fracture occurs (IOF, 2006). When bones have been weakened by osteoporosis, the symptoms of the disease present as â€Å"back pain which can be severe† (Manila Bulletin, 2009) in the case of a fractured or collapsed vertebra, gradual loss of height with increasingly stooped posture, and fractures of the vertebrae, wrists, hips, or other bones. In the case of women, bone loss in the spine begins shortly before menopause, and as early as the mid-30s in the femoral neck (Christodoulou & Cooper 133). The years following menopause bring about radical depletion in bone mineral density as a result of decreased estrogen levels (Lineback 43). In both men and women, bone density and strength depend greatly on the extent of mineral content, such as calcium and phosphorus (Manila Bulletin, 2009). The size and density of bone are mainly dependent on genetic factors, but lifestyle factors also play a significant part. Recommendations from latest research for building and maintaining bone matrix and reducing the risk of osteoporosis are as follows: 1. Nutritious Diet: A balanced nutritious diet which includes not only sufficient calcium and vitamin D, but also adequate protein as well as vitamins and minerals (Feinstein, 1996). A healthy body weight is essential, since being underweight with a body mass index less than 18.5 kg/ m2 is a strong risk factor for osteoporosis

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Assignment

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) - Assignment Example VAWA has reauthorized funds for the prosecution processes. According to Doerner (2012), the creation of a national domestic violence hotline is also a provision of VAWA. Every victim of domestic violence has a right to use this hotline at any time. It has also allocated funds for different kinds of programs and initiatives which include shelter for the victims, education programs and programs to increase outreach to women living in rural areas (Doerner, 2012). In accordance to VAWA laws, it is a crime for a person convicted of domestic violence to transport, receive or possess firearms or ammunition. Government officials are exempt from this ban if the firearm is government issued (Nicoletti et al, 2010). The allocation of funds for initiatives and programs to support the victims of crime has tremendously improved their lives. The services offered such as healthcare and education has helped them restructure their lives and live comfortably. Reported cases of violence such as sexual assault and battery have reduced since the enactment of VAWA. This has a positive impact especially to girls and women who are the major victims (Biden, 2005). The federal civil right of action encourages women to make false allegations, and petition for child custody. This may lead to fathers being denied of the rights of being with their children. A woman seeking help from a center funded by VAWA is offered the option of leaving her husband, divorcing him and accusing him of being a criminal. VAWA makes all women victims of men (Schlafly, 2005). One of the controversial remedies has been the ban on possession of guns by anyone convicted of domestic violence. Firearms and domestic violence are a deadly combination. Abusers who have access to firearms pose a great threat not only to those they have abused but also to the larger society. Ineffective implementation of the laws by judges, as well as those in civil and criminal justice system, may bring a threat of injury or death to

Amendment rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Amendment rights - Essay Example This is because the window is viewable by anyone one walking along that street. For example in Katz v. United States, a case ruled by the Supreme Court that there was no search if a person has an expectation of privacy and this expectation should be reasonable. For this case, if a police officer looks through the garbage, this cannot be termed as a search since there is not expectation that the garbage is private. The Congress has already placed statutory restrictions on incidents like when a police officer monitors telephone numbers dialed by individuals. At one time, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Florida v. Riley, where police officers had hovered above a suspect's house with a helicopter and conducted surveillance. There can be no expectation of privacy in illegal activities. For example where a police officer uses a drug sniffing dog to investigate an illegal activity is not a search. Under certain circumstances, it is not necessary for warrant for a search or seizure. For this case, the police officer must have a probable cause that makes him believe that the object in question is contraband before the search and seizure. There is search without a warrant on open fields if at all; the person conducting his activity in the open field had no reasonable expectation of privacy. ... There is search without a warrant on open fields if at all; the person conducting his activity in the open field had no reasonable expectation of privacy. For this case the meaning of 'open field' doctrine is expanded so that it includes any open space. For example in a case that was ruled by the Supreme Court that there was no search where the police had ignored a "no trespassing" sign when they entered the suspect's land without a warrant and as they walked through a path to the interior, they discovered he had planted marijuana in his land. The Supreme Court ruled in this case of Oliver v. United States that no search had taken place at the suspect's land. At time, there are exceptions to the warrant requirement for example in case the police officer suspects that the accused is likely to destroy evidence. For this case, the police officer is permitted to search and seize the suspect's property for evidence without a warrant. According to Supreme Court, individuals have reduced expectation of privacy while driving in their vehicles since the vehicles are not repositories of personal effects nor do they serve as a residence place. However, the automobiles are not supposed to be randomly stopped to be searched without a probable cause or reasonable suspicion of criminals driving in it. The police officer for this case is allowed to extend the search to any part of the vehicle where they believe weapons or drugs could be hidden. They may also extend their search to the passengers if there is a probable cause to search them if he suspects that they may hiding drugs or any harmful weapon. If a person has not been arrested and it appears that he has to be searched, then the search

Article Review Week 3 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Review Week 3 - Article Example The internet has changed the world forever. The internet sector that has had the deepest profound effect on the social behavior of teenagers is social websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Facebook is the largest social networking website in the world with over 800 million users (Facebook). â€Å"For teenagers who want to stay connected to their friends, social networks provide an ideal platform for communication† (Forbes). Teenagers take advantage of social websites to stay connected with their friends in any location they travel. The author mentioned that teenagers prefer to ride in a car without driving because they can use that time to connect to social websites and communicate with friends. On many instances driving is visualized by teenagers as an unnecessary hassle. Smartphones have become a lifestyle product that teenagers cannot live without. Smartphones provide teenagers with a social reach that cannot be topped by a car since cars take a long time to reach a specific distance. The internet capabilities of a smartphone allow a teenager to reach a person 10,000 miles away in a matter of seconds. Smartphones are also a complementary product to cars because most of them have GPS capabilities that can be used to guide a driver in a trip towards a specific location. The smartphones can also be connected to the car to serve the function of an iPod. The new consumer buying behavior tendencies among the teenage secondary research population must be closely monitored by marketers. The article showed that teenagers are extremely attached to their smartphones. Due to the rise in popularity of smartphones companies must spend part of their marketing budget in mobile advertising technology. The global market for mobile advertising is expected to reach $13 billion by the year 2013 (Plunkett Research). The fact that social websites are so popular among teenagers presents marketers with an opportunity

The Nature of Descartes' Program of Radical Doubt and the Reason He Essay

The Nature of Descartes' Program of Radical Doubt and the Reason He Engages in This Program - Essay Example As it is however, no significant degree of being radical may be detected, yet for the nature of doubt which Descartes presented, the philosophically radical part of his program is perceived on casting doubt upon ‘senses’ which has frequently been neglected. At this stage, he had come to express hence -- â€Å"All that I have, up to this moment, accepted as possessed of the highest truth and certainty, I received either from or through the senses. I observed, however, that these sometimes misled us; and it is the part of prudence not to place absolute confidence in that by which we have even once been deceived.† What the Dream Hypothesis and the Evil Deceiver Hypothesis are Supposed to Cast Doubt Upon In generating the dream hypothesis to show that sciences rest on firm foundations and that these foundations lay in the mind, Descartes went about designing his famous ‘dream’ argument by casting doubt on the truth of all sense perception and this would o nly take place if while dreaming, one first acknowledges the impression of illogical products as real where a dreaming person may have difficulty differentiating between the dream and reality. Descartes says â€Å"How often has it happened to me that in the night I dreamt that I found myself in this particular place, that I was dressed and seated near the fire, whilst in reality I was lying undressed in bed!† By this concept, I may believe even now that I am dreaming and this is not my body; that I am not writing this paper for philosophy but I am actually in a painting workshop. This dream hypothesis would consequently nullify the beliefs based on internal sense; for if you are dreaming then what you believe to be your awareness of self is truly false. Dreams possess negligible reason while life experience is orderly and controlled. Nevertheless, it is unreliable to evaluate coherences between dreams and reality. Dreams at times are incoherent and sometimes they appear to be real and beliefs derived from internal senses cannot be true due to the possibility that one may be dreaming. Descartes further argues that perhaps the only true beliefs come from intellect, or clear and distinct ideas. Despite the falsity of internal senses based on dreams, dreams are based on reality. Whether this hand is real or dreamed, it is my hand, and it exists somewhere. What if all he believes to be true, is being planted by some sort of intelligence force, such as an ‘evil demon’? When Descartes exemplifies with an inquiry â€Å"How do I know I am not deceived every time that I add two and three, or count the sides of a square?† perhaps he is being deceived in these fundamental beliefs that for instance through mathematics and the other

Health Promotion Essay Example for Free

Health Promotion Essay Individual behavior and state of mind has been noted to have an impact on disease prevention and its associated death. These factors being put into consideration in health promotion puts a demand on the individual to make changes in many aspects of life. Nurses play important role in health promotion by intervening in actions that direct people towards developing resources to maintain or enhance their wellbeing. In this essay three recent publication of professional journal articles reviewed will be discussed as it relates to nursing practice and three level of health promotion. How the role of nurses changed regarding health promotion and the numerous ways nurses implement all aspects of nursing in health promotion. The three levels of health promotion will also be compared. Health Promotion Definition Health promotion is a new model in healthcare. O’Donnell defines it as â€Å"the science and art of helping people change their lifestyle to move towards a state of optimal health.†(Edelman Mandel, 2010, p. 14). Nevertheless, health promotion is mainly all about inhibition and living healthy life style that leads to lower rate of diseases and death. Health promotion is different methods of life style people adopt to maintain good health. These actions lead to good quality life that brings about well-being and improve the quality of life and not only absence of disease. Individuals attain good health by exercising, eating healthy, living stress free life to take charge of their life. The purpose of health promotion in nursing practice is to bring about change in people’s attitude and action to start healthy lifestyle that will sustain or enhance their wellbeing .This helps individuals reach goal towards optimum health. Nurses are in the fore front of this program with main role in health promotion and disease prevention . They engage in changing the healthcare system from old way of managing and curing illness to model of health promotion. The nursing role and responsibilities in health promotion is an active one because they function in all the areas encouraging and reinforcing the positive actions individuals demonstrate towards lifestyle changes. Nurses use evidence base practice, education, providing positive support to reach progress towards goal. In the literature reviewed the three level of health promotion were used to manage diabetes type two in Latino community with positive outcome. With education of the people progress was made towards achieving health promotion. These were done in the public, community level and personal level. The nursing roles and responsibilities evolving in health promotion, and implementing methods for health promotion that encompasses all areas of nursing. In health promotion nurses work together with other health care associates and the community displaying a variety of roles: Advocate by striving to ensure that everybody attain high-quality life style, suitable, and at low cost Case manager role involves gathering of reliable data to make sure there is no duplication of services. Consultant role in their areas of practice or advance practice stand. Primary prevention in type two Diabetic patients in literature review. The first measure includes immunization against disease and disability, good water supply, and safety. The next step is promotion of health by healthy life style ,eating healthy, exercising clean living environment and stress management. Primary prevention is taking initiative and advantage of available programs to detect and stop disease especially for those with risk factors, for example yearly medical exam and screening that will include blood work like fasting blood sugar and HgA1c.as was seen in the literature review. Through the screening and education of the people in this community type two diabetes was successful prevention. The interventions and practices include but are not limited to identification of those with the risk factors, weight reduction, blood works for fasting blood sugar and hga1c.These people were noted to have knowledge deficit on self-care. And with education the main tool used in primary level progress was made towards goal by the evidence in lifestyle modifications leading to significant weight loss and reduction in hemoglobin A1C.(Surucu Turkey, 2011) Secondary prevention in type two diabetic patient literature reviews. In secondary prevention diseases are found in its earliest stages, before it becomes symptomatic. Identification and diagnosing the disease early leads to positive outcome in the healing process, its progression are slowed down prevented and complications, are controlled bringing disability to minimum. This literature review was community based. Learning sensitivity tests, ethnically designed life style for weight reduction and diabetes risk reduction within low-income group were carried out in Spanish-speaking Latinos high risk diabetics. They were erratically allocated to lifestyle intervention care (IC) or usual care. They also examined the success of life style intervention conducted in lower cost lower intensity format to high risk populace. It was found compared with the usual care the IC care had a modest but significant weight reduction and medically meaningful decrease in hemoglobin A1C, insulin resistance and greater reductions in percentage of calories from total and saturated fat. They developed an inexpensive culturally sensitivity diabetes (Ockene et al, 2012) prevention program that resulted in weight loss, improved HbA1c and improved insulin resistance in high risk Latino populace.(American Journal of Public Health 2012) Tertiary prevention in type two diabetic patient literature reviews. If prevention and secondary prevention fails to improve the patient’s health, tertiary prevention will be the next option to combat the ailment. Tertiary prevention program is mainly maintenance of quality of life in individuals affected with some diseases. Complications and disabilities severity reduced with advancement of disease stopped. Therapy is done to restore function. It was conducted by health care professionals and physical therapists. This stage includes follow-up and reviewing of all prescribed medications with reinforcement of its compliance, dietary and lifestyle modifications by community health nurses. In this literature review, the physical therapy was for gait training and stability to improve standing balance control in neuropathic patients with type two diabetes.(2011(Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development 2011). In conclusion nurses are the main people that direct health promotion but the success depends on how individuals, families, communities take charge of their health by practicing all the mentioned life style modifications. References . Last name, first initial (2011, December 7th).Title of the article. Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development (JRRD). 48(issue) pgs. Edelman, C. L., Mandel, C. L. (2010). Health Promotion Throughout Life Span (seventh edition ed.). Location: Pulisher Ockene et al, I. (2012). Research and Practice Peer Review. American Journal of Public Health, 102.(2) pg. Surucu, H. A., Turkey, S. K. (2011). Selfcare Deficit Nursing theory in the Self-management with type two diabetes. , Journal title, Volume #, (Issue Number) pgs. Comments: Chigo, you did a great job defining and discussing the definition of health promotion and the purpose of nursing in health promotion. This was excellent. You also looked at the roles of nursing in health promotion. Including how these roles are evolving was a needed element. You reviewed a few implementation methods, but this discussion was needed additional details outlining how this encompasses all areas of nursing and utilizing the reviewed articles to support ideas presented. You compared the 3 levels of prevention and reviewed 3 articles related to each level. There were multiple grammatical errors and some of the paragraphs and organization was confusing. Make sure to proof-read the paper. There were several APA errors, missing references, and missing elements for the references listed. Please refer to the APA style guide to help with these issues. Again, you did a great job discussing the definition and purpose of nursing in health promotion. Melanie

Perceptions Towards Islamic Banking and Insurance

Perceptions Towards Islamic Banking and Insurance Introduction In the first chapter of this research study, an introduction on insurance will be presented. While, on the other hand, there will be a highlight on the differences between conventional and Islamic insurance. Following this, will be the problem discussion and the objectives of this study. Finally, there will be the justification and significance, following by organization of the study. What Exactly Is Insurance Means Buying insurance has become a trend in this twentieth century. According to The Star daily(2007), in the first half of year 2007, the combined premium income for insurance industry increase 9.8 percent compared to the same period for year 2006. The industry is further expanded in line with the favorable economics performance. People bought the insurance for their car, family, and business. People spend a lot of money on paying the insurance premium annually. While, do they actually clear on what kind of plan they had bought and what had they insured for their life, property and so on? Do they really distinct on the concept of the insurance that they had disbursed so much? According to Bank Negara Malaysia, insurance is the transfer of risk by an individual, such as yourself or an organization, such as your business to an insurance company. You or your organization will then be known as policy holder or insured while the insurance company is the insurer. The insurance company receives the payment in the form of premium. Then the insurance company utilized the premium collect from their policy holder to make some investment for their company. They will compensate their policy holder in the event of losses or damages which is sustained by the premium paid. In other word, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss by paying an amount of premium. It is an effective risk transfer mechanism for insured to exchange their uncertainty financial loss with the certain amount of premium (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). This kind of insurance we titled as conventional insurance which is the ordinary type of insurance that accepted by the society in general. While, other than the conventional insurance which we normally approached to, there are another type of insurance which we called as Islamic insurance. The Islamic insurance was step into Malaysia insurance market since November of year 1984 (Renat Bekkin, 2008). The first Islamic insurance company established in Malaysia was Takaful Malaysia Berhad. Early than that, Islamic insurance has stepping into the market of Sudan and Arab. What is Islamic insurance Islamic insurance is a mode of financial management which compliance to Shariah law. Islamic insurance is provided under a principle called Takaful. According to Islamic Banking, the term Takaful is derived from the Arabic word Kafaala meaning guaranteeing. Takaful means guaranteeing each other and refer to the concept of permissible Islamic insurance or Halal insurance. While by referring to Takaful Act 1984, Article 2, Takaful means a scheme based on brotherhood, solidarity and mutual assistance which provides for mutual financial aid and assistance to the participants in case of need whereby the participants mutually agree to contribute for that purpose. Literally, Takaful defines responsibility, shared guarantee, collective assurance and mutual undertakings. (Masum Billah, 2007) Some Muslims believe insurance is unnecessary, as society should helps its victims. Muslims can no longer ignore the fact that they live, they trade and communicate with open global systems, and they can no longer ignore the need for banking and insurance (Dr Aly Khorshid, 2004). In the eyes of Muslims, the concepts used by conventional insurance are against the law of Shariah. This is because conventional insurance is based on a contract of exchange (sale) between the insurance company and the covered person. This contract is void because it has the elements which are not permissible from Shariahs perspective. The elements are Gharar which means uncertainty. Conventional insurance has an element of Gharar due to the promise to pay a sum of money upon the occurrence of unsuspected events. The other elements are Maysir which refer to gambling. Existence of Gharar (uncertainties) leads to Maysir (gambling) in conventional insurance. The insured may either lose the entire premium he has paid or be compensated for the losses he incurs for the insured event. Riba was also one of the not permissible elements in the law of Shariah. Riba means interest. The investment of insurance funds in interest bearing securities such bonds and stocks, which do not comply with the Shariah principles, pose a major Muslims who purchase the conventional insurance (Alburn Mountain, 2008). In conventional insurance, vendors, the insurance company, sells their insurance plans to their clients, which we called as policy holder in the other way and invest the premium paid for the profit of its shareholder. Then, the policy holders do enjoy the risk transference that they are receiving the compensation if they face the financial loss on the events they insured. According to Islamic Banking, Takaful was grant as Islamic insurance because of the apparent similarity between the contract of kafaala and insurance. Takaful is an Islamic concept which grounded in Islamic Mualamat which define as banking transaction (SP Media, 2009). This concept already practices in diverse form over 1400 years long (Salam, 2008). Generally, Takaful is an insurance plan which based on Shariah principles. The members are to contribute a certain amount of money to a common pool which is Takaful fund in the form of participative contribution that also called as Tabarru. Tabarru means a donation, charity or gift which cannot be taken back (Dr Qaradawi, 2002). In general Takaful, a percentage of the participants contribution is considered as Tabarru, thus it cannot be taken back by the participants as it is the joint guarantee principle to help other participants. A portion of a participants contribution will be allocate through Tabarru principle to help participants from a sudden but defined risks. After contributing the money into Takaful mutual fund, they will undertake a contract which called as Aqad in Islam, to become one of the participants by agreeing to mutually help each other, should any of the participants suffer a defined loss (Arshad Shaikh, 2007). In Islamic insurance, participants (policyholders) are co-operating among themselves for their common goods. Every participants are to pay a part of the contribution (premium) as a donation to help those need assistance. Other than that, in Takaful system, losses are divided and liabilities spread according to the community pooling system. In order to eliminate the element of uncertainty in Takaful contract, the concept of Tabarru is incorporated. This is to enable the participant to fulfill his obligation of mutual help and joint guarantee should any of his fellow participants suffer a defined loss. In conventional insurance, policy holder can buy more than one policy or plan to hedge the particular risk in the event of loss or damage. By this, the policy holders are lessening the claims of the insurance company because the same amount of compensation has now burden by two companies. This is called reinsurance which an insurance company can transfer to another insurer, the reinsurer all or part of its liabilities in respect of claims arising under the contracts of insurance. This is to protect itself against the risk that its total claims costs in any year may wiping out of its profits and cause it to insolvent. As same in Islamic insurance, participants can buy more than one plan from other licensed Takaful operator. This is called as Retakaful in Islamic insurance (Bahrain, 2005). Why Takaful Insurance instead of Conventional Insurance In Islamic view, the concept used in conventional insurance is in conflict with the injunction of Islam (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). The conflicts were not against the concepts used by conventional insurance that trades and contracts were appeared in the concept. While the struggling are the weaknesses and the imperfect phrase which existed in the insurance contract. The objections are actually against the phrase of Gharar which means uncertainty, Maisir refers to gambling and the word Riba which point to the interest. The criticism was the word of Gharar is happened in the contract of insurance. Other than that, the phrase of gambling is presenting in its extreme form. Whats more is the element of interest is existed in the contract. These three phrases were the points appeared in the contract of conventional insurance that prohibited in Islamic view. Thus, they lead to the contradiction between conventional insurance and Islamic view (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). While, there are the person who does not agree the above matters. According to Dr Yusof al-Qaradawi (2002), he does not think that the concept used in conventional insurance is conflict with Islamic law, but he agrees that the conventional insurance is in need of some improvement to move in line with Islamic teachings. Problem Statement People are following the track of buying insurance nowadays. People buy insurance when there is a new born baby. They buy insurance during their travelling. Insurance also bought when people purchase a residential property. People also buy insurance for the sake of retiring. People buy insurance whenever they think there was an unseen risk hidden, but do they really know what is about insurance and what type of insurance is available in the market? Throughout a number of searching by using the Google search engine and the library in campus, which was found that there are the surveys doing on Islamic Banking which may mentioned in various perspectives for instances the growth of Islamic banking in the world. Like what mentioning by Radio Australia, Islamic banking was one of the fastest growing sectors in the finance world which reveals by the value of the industry which worth of USD 1 Trillion in the year 2008. An addition, according to the bankers Top 500 Islamic Financial Institution survey, assets held by Islamic bank in year 2009 rose by 28.6 percent to 822 billion dollar from 639 billion dollar in year 2008. It posted a double-digit growth in the year 2009 despite of the economic slowdown occurred in the earlier year (Soren Billing, 2009). Other than that, what was found is there are quite a number of researches which study on the topic related to insurance. There are talked about the insurance expansion in the industry, growth of the insurance industry, the rate of market penetration. According to KCLAU (2007), the market penetration of life insurance as measured in terms of the total number of policies in force to total population, grew to 39.3 percent as at end of June 2007. While, besides the conventional which is generally accepted by the society, there are another type of risk transfer mechanism which is Islamic insurance was emerged in the other part of the globe. Islamic insurance was first widely spread over the Islamic country like Sudan, Arabic, India, South East Asia, and some other place in the world. The Islamic insurance also practiced in the region which is non Islamic country like European country and United of State. Since the growing of Islamic insurance throughout the world is in such a fast track, while, the doubt appeared was, it was hard to find the study on Islamic insurance rather than the conventional insurance. Another doubt was appeared that what is the reason to separate insurance into Islamic and conventional? What is the different perspective between Islamic insurance and conventional insurance? While, the most is, do people aware of the existence of Islamic insurance in the insurance industry which they approached ordinarily? Following by this, is the discussion on conventional and Islamic insurance. Research Objectives The general objective of this study is to clarify the different perspectives between conventional and Islamic insurance. While the other specific objectives as stated below which I am to study in this research. The specific objectives: To investigate the different perception of Muslim and Non Muslim towards conventional and Islamic insurance To investigate the determinants of demand for insurance in Malaysians To determine the level of awareness on Islamic insurance in the region of Malaysia Significance of Study This study may help the Malaysian Islamic Finance market to move a step up due to the hike up of the level of awareness on the conventional and Islamic insurance. Other than that, the study also provides the Muslim and Non Muslim within Malaysia to walk out of the religious teachings and some other factors in order to know more about the issues of insurance. Therefrom, Malaysias Islamic finance market may improve follow by the fast track in other country like what happened to the Top 500 Islamic Financial Institution, that assets held by Islamic bank in year 2009 rose by 28.6 percent to 822 billion dollar from 639 billion dollar in year 2008. It posted a double-digit growth in the year 2009 despite of the economic slowdown occurred in the earlier year (Soren Billing, 2009). Other than impacts on the country income and economic condition, this study also might helpful to the family or person who thinks of purchase insurance. By gone through this study, they are able to better analyze the product available in the market whether from the conventional insurance company or the Takaful operator which offer the Shariah compliance products and services. Then they are able to choose the best product which suit to them in terms of their needs, budget and also the religious teachings. Other than this, the study also may help the insurance company or the operators to determine the consumers intention of buying on their product. They may use the useful information to improve their products in order to enhance or even develop a better market position for their company. The growing in the insurance market plays an important role in the economic growth of the country. The growing may bring the country to a higher position in the world financial sector. Thus, Malaysia will stand still on the top of the world in the financial sector which playing the role of developing the conventional and Islamic insurance to the various country on the globe. Organization of Study This research report comprises of five chapters. The first chapter serves the introduction on insurance. It consists of the detail for conventional insurance and Islamic insurance. Problem statement and research objective is also discussed. Following the significance of study is presented. Lastly, the chapter one will end by the organization of study which show the flow out of the whole research project. Basically, chapter two will present the literature review which forms the foundation of this study. It consists of the related empirical study which done by other researchers previously. There are few factors which impact on the demand of insurance and influential to customers perception are included in this chapter. In chapter three, the research methodology of the study will be discussed. The research framework will be shown together with the hypothesis developed link together the variables in the study. Other than that, the sample planning, sources of data and data collection will also be carried out. Questionnaire design will also be laid out in this chapter following by the data analysis method which is the last part of this chapter. Following by this is chapter four which describe the results and discussion. Hence, the graph and table will be widely used to better interpret the findings and result of the study. Finally, chapter five will be the conclusion and the recommendation of this research. The level of awareness among Malaysian towards Islamic insurance will finally be presented and end this study. Chapter Two Literature Review INTRODUCTION Continue with the first chapter presented previously, this study is to observe the perception of Malaysia towards conventional insurance and Islamic insurance. For the sake of gaining a clearer view on this, exploring to the related literature is a must. Following, the overview of insurance and takaful will be presented. In 2.2, the discussion about the determinants impact on demand for insurance will be presented. Then, the study will indicate the perception of consumers towards conventional and Islamic methods of finance in few factors like the service quality, accessibility, convenience and status of the organizations. Lastly in 2.4, the awareness among Malaysian towards Islamic insurance will be discussed. Overview of Insurance and Islamic Insurance Insurance is a form of risk-management which transfer the possible risks like accident, theft, natural disaster and illness of ones or a group to the more financially sound entity, insurers in exchange with a small amount of payment which we called as premium. The meaning of insurance is essentially to understand for everybody who is considering of purchase an insurance policy or to understand the basics of what if finance. This instrument is used in hedging risk precautionary against the future contingent losses (Stanley St Labs, n.d). While, according to Insurance Info, insurance is being categorized two main categories which are life insurance and general insurance. The risks that covered by life insurance including premature death, income during retirement and illness. While the main products in life insurance are Whole life, Endowment, Term, Investment-linked, Life annuity plan, Medical and health. For general insurance, it is basically a policy that protects you from losses and damages which other than those covered by life insurance, for instance, property loss like stolen car and burnt house. Other than that, liability arising from damage caused by oneself to a third party, accidental death or injury also covered by the general insurance. The products offered under general insurance are Motor insurance, Fire/House owner/Householder insurance, Personal accident insurance, Medical and health insurance and Travel insurance. While for Islamic insurance, takaful, is a protection plan based on Shariah principles compliance. By contributing a sum of money to a common takaful fund in the form of participative contribution (tabarru), the person is undertaking a contract (aqad) to become one of the participants which agree to mutually help each other if any of the participants suffer a defined loss. Both takaul and insurance have similar basic principles where the insured must have a legitimate financial interest in the risk you are insuring, which means the insured must suffer a financial loss when the insured event occurred. In takaful, the life insurance is granted as family takaful. The products offered under family takaful are Family Takaful, Investment linked takaful, Child education takaful, Medical and health takaful. While for general takaful, there are Home takaful, Motor takaful and Personal accidents takaful. Perception towards Conventional and Islamic Insurance Perception, as defined by Stephen P. Robbins (2005) is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. Perception is important in decision making process. An individual must fully understand the decision must make along with all of the facts and information involved. If an individual has a bad perception of the situation and do not consider all of the facts that are involved like the external factors which anyone else have no control over the individual may lead to a wrong decision. In turn, this will cause negative consequences for the organization and the individual. In order to have a good perception on any given situation, an individual must analyze all of the significant information involved in a timely manner, without making a hasty decision (Wally Sparks, 2007). Service Quality According to Shahril Bin Shafie (2003), quality is sought by all organizations, especially in the service sector. Service quality is commonly noted as a critical prerequisite for establishing and sustaining satisfying relationships between organization and the customers (Lassar et al., 2000). According to Yap, S.F., and Kew, M.L., there are many researchers who have defined service quality in different ways. Among them, Bitner, Booms and Mohr (1994) define service quality as the consumers overall impression of the relative inferiority or superiority of the organization and its services. While, other researchers like Cronin and Taylor (1994), view service quality as a form of attitude representing a long run overall evaluation. Service quality has determining the repeated purchase and customer loyalty to an organization. When a customer choose a provider that provides service quality that meets or exceeds his or her expectations, then the customer is more likely to choose the same pro vider again. According to Erol and El-Bdour (1989), Erol, Kaynak, and El-Bdour (1990) and Haron, Ahmad and Planisek (1994) observed that Islamic bank consumers rated the speed and efficiency of services near their top selection criterion on finance service provider. By referring to a study conduct by Erdener Kaynak and Talha D. Harcar (2005) is found that, the service quality provide by conventional banking system is excellent than the others. The study indicated that the customer maintain a higher level of confidence in conventional bank rather than Islamic bank. In this study, the service being tested including the swiftness in correcting errors, fast and efficient service, and consumer complains handling and the courtesy personnel. While according to Hendrik, L., Hirun, A., Razli, C.R., Halim, M.L., Khairul, A. A., and Darwina, A.A. (n.d), indicate that customer satisfaction on Islamic banking products and services is different across the cities. The service quality is satisfied within Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur and Penang because these cities are bigger which also contains more populations, and are more economically developed. Due to these reasons, the service provided is more satisfactory because of the customers characteristics which different from income level, gender and also educational level.Erol and El-Bdour (1989), Erol, Kaynak, and El-Bdour (1990) and Haron, Ahmad and Planisek (1994) observed that Islamic bank consumers rated the speed and efficiency of services near their top selection criterion on finance service provider. The emergence of the Internet provides an opportunity for organizations to conduct business in cyberspace. Steven et al (2002), Soliman (2003), Wirtz (2001), Coltman (2001) had studied that Internet adoption and factors influencing the propensity and pattern of adoption among different sectors and sizes of organizations worldwide and in Malaysia, empirical data on online insurance has been limited (Fatimah et al, 2000; Yusserie at el, 2002). One of the reasons may be because the insurance industry has been slow to respond to the usage of Internet for business,, as compared to the other financial service (Esters, 1997). In 1999, recognizing the potential of the Internet, Bank Negara Malaysia allowed a group of insurers to establish the industry first interactive insurance website, which enabled policy owners to transact on the line for renewal of policy and also premium payment(BNM 2000). Internet via individual companys website allows customers to gain more information about the product and services offered by the companies (Ruquet, 2001). While, not all the business organizations are adopting Internet in their business due to various reasons like customer readiness, cost and the risks involved. Zinkewicz (2000) said that business do not use the Internet for business because customers do not trust the process involved, instead, they prefer human interactions (Ainin and Jaafar, 2003). Accessibility Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product or service is accessible by as many people as possible. It also viewed as the ability to access the functionality and possible benefits of some system or entity like information of the particular products and services (Wikipedia, 2009). In Malaysia, there are total up 1,752 numbers of registered insurance agencies distributed throughout the thirteen states and two federal territories. Among of all, there are agencies which offer both life insurance and also general insurance business like American International Assurance Bhd, Etiqa Insurance Berhad, Hong Leong Assurance Berhad and so on (BNM, 2008). Other than that, there are only eight licensed Takaful operator in Malaysia which are CIMB Aviva Takaful Berhad, Etiqa Takaful Berhad, Hong Leong Tokio Marine Takaful Berhad, HSBC Amanah Takaful (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, MAA Takaful Berhad, Prudential BSN Takaful Berhad,Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad and also Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd (BNM, 2008). Convenience Convenience is composed of number factors including the availability of parking space, location of branches, long operation hours. (Jasmi Al-Ajmi, Hameeda Abo Hussain and Nadhem Al-Saleh, 2009). Customers will always prefer the products and services are available near to their working place or house area for the convenience of visiting. The sufficient parking space and long operation hours is for the convenience when visiting to the branch. Internet adoption is a type of convenience which offered by the insurance companies to their consumers, where consumers can get the products and services information through the website (Ainin and Jaafar, 2003). Other than that, interior comfort and external design also included affect the consumers perception on the convenience of selecting financial products. Status Status of an organization show measured through the strength of financial position, reputation and also the risk. As Islamic finance continue to expand. Islamic principles strong emphasis on the economic, ethical, moral and social dimensions, to enhance equality and fairness for the good of society as a whole should also have appeal for the ethnically minded (Jasmi Al-Ajmi, Hameeda Abo Hussain and Nadhem Al-Saleh, 2009). Study which conducted by Ahasanul Haque, Jamil Osman and Ahmad Zaki (2009) also revealed that banks name and reputation is a strong effect on selecting a bank. In order to penetrate the youth market, Takaful Malaysia announced on 11th November, that RM 15 million has been pumped into the companys rebranding exercise. After twenty-five years of leading in Islamic insurance company in the country, Takaful Malaysia is setting on conquering the insurance industry by transforming itself into a more youthful outfit. Reflective of its tagline of modern, young and energetic, the company will unveils its new fresh-looking logo, a color fusion of apple green and olive green, described by Takaful Malaysia group director Datuk Hassan Kamil as vibrant and energetic. Takaful Malaysia believes that its latest approach will enhance its image and make it more appealing to the younger age-group which Hassan deems as a highly potential market segment (Joseph Kaos JR, 2009). Others Other than the above criteria, according to a study conducted in Jordan indicated that profit motivated criteria was an important factor to choose a bank service. However, other findings are that peer group influence plays an important role in selecting Islamic banks as depository institution. Other than that, politeness and friendliness of the personnel will also impact on the customers perception towards the financial institutions (Ahasanul Haque, Jamil Osman and Ahmad Zaki, 2009). Determinants of demand for insurance Insurance has become an important part of a financial sector over the past forty years. It provides a range of investments product for consumers. It also becomes the major source of investment in the capital market. Yet, the reasons for consumption of insurance are various across the countries. Demographic factors were amongst (Thorsten Beck, 2003; Ian Webb, 2003, Yvette Reisinger, 2009). While according to the study conducted by Truett et al. (1990), the consumption of insurance is depend on the price of insurance, income level of individual, and also the demographic factors such as age of individual insured and also the educational level. Gender The majority women of American have health insurance through either employer or through a public program. There are 66.67 percents of all women aged from 18 to 64 owned insurance through their employer, while another 16 percents through public program in year 2007. In contrast, there is 7 percents of nonelderly women in year 2007 purchase health coverage directly from insurance companies which we known as the individual market. Yet, the National Womens Law Centre (NWLC) investigated two phenomena, the gender gap which refers to the difference in premium charged to female and male applicants of the same age and health status. Another phenomenon is the availability and affordability of coverage for maternity care across the country. Based on the research, NWLC (2008) found that the individual market is a place which is very hard for women to purchase the health coverage. This is because insurance companies can refuse to sell women coverage due to the historic data that women have a higher percentage compared to men in suffering from a chronic condition which requiring ongoing treatment for instances asthma or arthritis. In addition, if the insurers discovered that an applicant underwent a Caesarean Section (C-Section) during the medical underwriting process, the company may charge a higher premium, or impose an exclusionary period which it refuses to cover another C-Section or pregnancy. New reports also revealed that women are more likely than men in taking prescription medication on a regular basis. In these conditions, the insurance company may reject the applications. On the other hand, it is difficult and costly for women to find health insurance that cover maternity care. A limited number of insurers offered this in separately for an additional fees which known as rider. Yet, this supplemental coverage is often far higher than ordinary plan. So typically, women have no other choice to select more or less comprehensive rider policy (NWLC, 2008). Educational Level According to Tienyu Hwang (2003) and Simon Gao (2003), the level of education plays a very important role in affecting the demand of insurance. It has been shown that the increasing of the educated population in a country, the recognition of the availability of insurance products will also be increased. Thus, the demand for insurance will also be growing in the country. Despite the education level in China is relatively low (Truett and monitor, 1996; World Bank, 1998), the increase in the education level will lead to a large number of people being realizing and able to recognize the essentiality of insurance. Therefore, it is likely to create a demand to purchase insurance. On the other hand, although the level of education in China remains low, china has made a great progress in improving the education system since the economic reform. This has increase the education level which leads to a greater awareness and understanding on the role of insurance. Hence, the level of education and demand for insurance is positively correlated. However, Szpiro and Outreville (198) proved that higher education leads to lower risk aversion, and that, in turn, leads to more risk taking by skilled and well educated people. While accor Perceptions Towards Islamic Banking and Insurance Perceptions Towards Islamic Banking and Insurance Introduction In the first chapter of this research study, an introduction on insurance will be presented. While, on the other hand, there will be a highlight on the differences between conventional and Islamic insurance. Following this, will be the problem discussion and the objectives of this study. Finally, there will be the justification and significance, following by organization of the study. What Exactly Is Insurance Means Buying insurance has become a trend in this twentieth century. According to The Star daily(2007), in the first half of year 2007, the combined premium income for insurance industry increase 9.8 percent compared to the same period for year 2006. The industry is further expanded in line with the favorable economics performance. People bought the insurance for their car, family, and business. People spend a lot of money on paying the insurance premium annually. While, do they actually clear on what kind of plan they had bought and what had they insured for their life, property and so on? Do they really distinct on the concept of the insurance that they had disbursed so much? According to Bank Negara Malaysia, insurance is the transfer of risk by an individual, such as yourself or an organization, such as your business to an insurance company. You or your organization will then be known as policy holder or insured while the insurance company is the insurer. The insurance company receives the payment in the form of premium. Then the insurance company utilized the premium collect from their policy holder to make some investment for their company. They will compensate their policy holder in the event of losses or damages which is sustained by the premium paid. In other word, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss by paying an amount of premium. It is an effective risk transfer mechanism for insured to exchange their uncertainty financial loss with the certain amount of premium (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). This kind of insurance we titled as conventional insurance which is the ordinary type of insurance that accepted by the society in general. While, other than the conventional insurance which we normally approached to, there are another type of insurance which we called as Islamic insurance. The Islamic insurance was step into Malaysia insurance market since November of year 1984 (Renat Bekkin, 2008). The first Islamic insurance company established in Malaysia was Takaful Malaysia Berhad. Early than that, Islamic insurance has stepping into the market of Sudan and Arab. What is Islamic insurance Islamic insurance is a mode of financial management which compliance to Shariah law. Islamic insurance is provided under a principle called Takaful. According to Islamic Banking, the term Takaful is derived from the Arabic word Kafaala meaning guaranteeing. Takaful means guaranteeing each other and refer to the concept of permissible Islamic insurance or Halal insurance. While by referring to Takaful Act 1984, Article 2, Takaful means a scheme based on brotherhood, solidarity and mutual assistance which provides for mutual financial aid and assistance to the participants in case of need whereby the participants mutually agree to contribute for that purpose. Literally, Takaful defines responsibility, shared guarantee, collective assurance and mutual undertakings. (Masum Billah, 2007) Some Muslims believe insurance is unnecessary, as society should helps its victims. Muslims can no longer ignore the fact that they live, they trade and communicate with open global systems, and they can no longer ignore the need for banking and insurance (Dr Aly Khorshid, 2004). In the eyes of Muslims, the concepts used by conventional insurance are against the law of Shariah. This is because conventional insurance is based on a contract of exchange (sale) between the insurance company and the covered person. This contract is void because it has the elements which are not permissible from Shariahs perspective. The elements are Gharar which means uncertainty. Conventional insurance has an element of Gharar due to the promise to pay a sum of money upon the occurrence of unsuspected events. The other elements are Maysir which refer to gambling. Existence of Gharar (uncertainties) leads to Maysir (gambling) in conventional insurance. The insured may either lose the entire premium he has paid or be compensated for the losses he incurs for the insured event. Riba was also one of the not permissible elements in the law of Shariah. Riba means interest. The investment of insurance funds in interest bearing securities such bonds and stocks, which do not comply with the Shariah principles, pose a major Muslims who purchase the conventional insurance (Alburn Mountain, 2008). In conventional insurance, vendors, the insurance company, sells their insurance plans to their clients, which we called as policy holder in the other way and invest the premium paid for the profit of its shareholder. Then, the policy holders do enjoy the risk transference that they are receiving the compensation if they face the financial loss on the events they insured. According to Islamic Banking, Takaful was grant as Islamic insurance because of the apparent similarity between the contract of kafaala and insurance. Takaful is an Islamic concept which grounded in Islamic Mualamat which define as banking transaction (SP Media, 2009). This concept already practices in diverse form over 1400 years long (Salam, 2008). Generally, Takaful is an insurance plan which based on Shariah principles. The members are to contribute a certain amount of money to a common pool which is Takaful fund in the form of participative contribution that also called as Tabarru. Tabarru means a donation, charity or gift which cannot be taken back (Dr Qaradawi, 2002). In general Takaful, a percentage of the participants contribution is considered as Tabarru, thus it cannot be taken back by the participants as it is the joint guarantee principle to help other participants. A portion of a participants contribution will be allocate through Tabarru principle to help participants from a sudden but defined risks. After contributing the money into Takaful mutual fund, they will undertake a contract which called as Aqad in Islam, to become one of the participants by agreeing to mutually help each other, should any of the participants suffer a defined loss (Arshad Shaikh, 2007). In Islamic insurance, participants (policyholders) are co-operating among themselves for their common goods. Every participants are to pay a part of the contribution (premium) as a donation to help those need assistance. Other than that, in Takaful system, losses are divided and liabilities spread according to the community pooling system. In order to eliminate the element of uncertainty in Takaful contract, the concept of Tabarru is incorporated. This is to enable the participant to fulfill his obligation of mutual help and joint guarantee should any of his fellow participants suffer a defined loss. In conventional insurance, policy holder can buy more than one policy or plan to hedge the particular risk in the event of loss or damage. By this, the policy holders are lessening the claims of the insurance company because the same amount of compensation has now burden by two companies. This is called reinsurance which an insurance company can transfer to another insurer, the reinsurer all or part of its liabilities in respect of claims arising under the contracts of insurance. This is to protect itself against the risk that its total claims costs in any year may wiping out of its profits and cause it to insolvent. As same in Islamic insurance, participants can buy more than one plan from other licensed Takaful operator. This is called as Retakaful in Islamic insurance (Bahrain, 2005). Why Takaful Insurance instead of Conventional Insurance In Islamic view, the concept used in conventional insurance is in conflict with the injunction of Islam (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). The conflicts were not against the concepts used by conventional insurance that trades and contracts were appeared in the concept. While the struggling are the weaknesses and the imperfect phrase which existed in the insurance contract. The objections are actually against the phrase of Gharar which means uncertainty, Maisir refers to gambling and the word Riba which point to the interest. The criticism was the word of Gharar is happened in the contract of insurance. Other than that, the phrase of gambling is presenting in its extreme form. Whats more is the element of interest is existed in the contract. These three phrases were the points appeared in the contract of conventional insurance that prohibited in Islamic view. Thus, they lead to the contradiction between conventional insurance and Islamic view (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). While, there are the person who does not agree the above matters. According to Dr Yusof al-Qaradawi (2002), he does not think that the concept used in conventional insurance is conflict with Islamic law, but he agrees that the conventional insurance is in need of some improvement to move in line with Islamic teachings. Problem Statement People are following the track of buying insurance nowadays. People buy insurance when there is a new born baby. They buy insurance during their travelling. Insurance also bought when people purchase a residential property. People also buy insurance for the sake of retiring. People buy insurance whenever they think there was an unseen risk hidden, but do they really know what is about insurance and what type of insurance is available in the market? Throughout a number of searching by using the Google search engine and the library in campus, which was found that there are the surveys doing on Islamic Banking which may mentioned in various perspectives for instances the growth of Islamic banking in the world. Like what mentioning by Radio Australia, Islamic banking was one of the fastest growing sectors in the finance world which reveals by the value of the industry which worth of USD 1 Trillion in the year 2008. An addition, according to the bankers Top 500 Islamic Financial Institution survey, assets held by Islamic bank in year 2009 rose by 28.6 percent to 822 billion dollar from 639 billion dollar in year 2008. It posted a double-digit growth in the year 2009 despite of the economic slowdown occurred in the earlier year (Soren Billing, 2009). Other than that, what was found is there are quite a number of researches which study on the topic related to insurance. There are talked about the insurance expansion in the industry, growth of the insurance industry, the rate of market penetration. According to KCLAU (2007), the market penetration of life insurance as measured in terms of the total number of policies in force to total population, grew to 39.3 percent as at end of June 2007. While, besides the conventional which is generally accepted by the society, there are another type of risk transfer mechanism which is Islamic insurance was emerged in the other part of the globe. Islamic insurance was first widely spread over the Islamic country like Sudan, Arabic, India, South East Asia, and some other place in the world. The Islamic insurance also practiced in the region which is non Islamic country like European country and United of State. Since the growing of Islamic insurance throughout the world is in such a fast track, while, the doubt appeared was, it was hard to find the study on Islamic insurance rather than the conventional insurance. Another doubt was appeared that what is the reason to separate insurance into Islamic and conventional? What is the different perspective between Islamic insurance and conventional insurance? While, the most is, do people aware of the existence of Islamic insurance in the insurance industry which they approached ordinarily? Following by this, is the discussion on conventional and Islamic insurance. Research Objectives The general objective of this study is to clarify the different perspectives between conventional and Islamic insurance. While the other specific objectives as stated below which I am to study in this research. The specific objectives: To investigate the different perception of Muslim and Non Muslim towards conventional and Islamic insurance To investigate the determinants of demand for insurance in Malaysians To determine the level of awareness on Islamic insurance in the region of Malaysia Significance of Study This study may help the Malaysian Islamic Finance market to move a step up due to the hike up of the level of awareness on the conventional and Islamic insurance. Other than that, the study also provides the Muslim and Non Muslim within Malaysia to walk out of the religious teachings and some other factors in order to know more about the issues of insurance. Therefrom, Malaysias Islamic finance market may improve follow by the fast track in other country like what happened to the Top 500 Islamic Financial Institution, that assets held by Islamic bank in year 2009 rose by 28.6 percent to 822 billion dollar from 639 billion dollar in year 2008. It posted a double-digit growth in the year 2009 despite of the economic slowdown occurred in the earlier year (Soren Billing, 2009). Other than impacts on the country income and economic condition, this study also might helpful to the family or person who thinks of purchase insurance. By gone through this study, they are able to better analyze the product available in the market whether from the conventional insurance company or the Takaful operator which offer the Shariah compliance products and services. Then they are able to choose the best product which suit to them in terms of their needs, budget and also the religious teachings. Other than this, the study also may help the insurance company or the operators to determine the consumers intention of buying on their product. They may use the useful information to improve their products in order to enhance or even develop a better market position for their company. The growing in the insurance market plays an important role in the economic growth of the country. The growing may bring the country to a higher position in the world financial sector. Thus, Malaysia will stand still on the top of the world in the financial sector which playing the role of developing the conventional and Islamic insurance to the various country on the globe. Organization of Study This research report comprises of five chapters. The first chapter serves the introduction on insurance. It consists of the detail for conventional insurance and Islamic insurance. Problem statement and research objective is also discussed. Following the significance of study is presented. Lastly, the chapter one will end by the organization of study which show the flow out of the whole research project. Basically, chapter two will present the literature review which forms the foundation of this study. It consists of the related empirical study which done by other researchers previously. There are few factors which impact on the demand of insurance and influential to customers perception are included in this chapter. In chapter three, the research methodology of the study will be discussed. The research framework will be shown together with the hypothesis developed link together the variables in the study. Other than that, the sample planning, sources of data and data collection will also be carried out. Questionnaire design will also be laid out in this chapter following by the data analysis method which is the last part of this chapter. Following by this is chapter four which describe the results and discussion. Hence, the graph and table will be widely used to better interpret the findings and result of the study. Finally, chapter five will be the conclusion and the recommendation of this research. The level of awareness among Malaysian towards Islamic insurance will finally be presented and end this study. Chapter Two Literature Review INTRODUCTION Continue with the first chapter presented previously, this study is to observe the perception of Malaysia towards conventional insurance and Islamic insurance. For the sake of gaining a clearer view on this, exploring to the related literature is a must. Following, the overview of insurance and takaful will be presented. In 2.2, the discussion about the determinants impact on demand for insurance will be presented. Then, the study will indicate the perception of consumers towards conventional and Islamic methods of finance in few factors like the service quality, accessibility, convenience and status of the organizations. Lastly in 2.4, the awareness among Malaysian towards Islamic insurance will be discussed. Overview of Insurance and Islamic Insurance Insurance is a form of risk-management which transfer the possible risks like accident, theft, natural disaster and illness of ones or a group to the more financially sound entity, insurers in exchange with a small amount of payment which we called as premium. The meaning of insurance is essentially to understand for everybody who is considering of purchase an insurance policy or to understand the basics of what if finance. This instrument is used in hedging risk precautionary against the future contingent losses (Stanley St Labs, n.d). While, according to Insurance Info, insurance is being categorized two main categories which are life insurance and general insurance. The risks that covered by life insurance including premature death, income during retirement and illness. While the main products in life insurance are Whole life, Endowment, Term, Investment-linked, Life annuity plan, Medical and health. For general insurance, it is basically a policy that protects you from losses and damages which other than those covered by life insurance, for instance, property loss like stolen car and burnt house. Other than that, liability arising from damage caused by oneself to a third party, accidental death or injury also covered by the general insurance. The products offered under general insurance are Motor insurance, Fire/House owner/Householder insurance, Personal accident insurance, Medical and health insurance and Travel insurance. While for Islamic insurance, takaful, is a protection plan based on Shariah principles compliance. By contributing a sum of money to a common takaful fund in the form of participative contribution (tabarru), the person is undertaking a contract (aqad) to become one of the participants which agree to mutually help each other if any of the participants suffer a defined loss. Both takaul and insurance have similar basic principles where the insured must have a legitimate financial interest in the risk you are insuring, which means the insured must suffer a financial loss when the insured event occurred. In takaful, the life insurance is granted as family takaful. The products offered under family takaful are Family Takaful, Investment linked takaful, Child education takaful, Medical and health takaful. While for general takaful, there are Home takaful, Motor takaful and Personal accidents takaful. Perception towards Conventional and Islamic Insurance Perception, as defined by Stephen P. Robbins (2005) is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. Perception is important in decision making process. An individual must fully understand the decision must make along with all of the facts and information involved. If an individual has a bad perception of the situation and do not consider all of the facts that are involved like the external factors which anyone else have no control over the individual may lead to a wrong decision. In turn, this will cause negative consequences for the organization and the individual. In order to have a good perception on any given situation, an individual must analyze all of the significant information involved in a timely manner, without making a hasty decision (Wally Sparks, 2007). Service Quality According to Shahril Bin Shafie (2003), quality is sought by all organizations, especially in the service sector. Service quality is commonly noted as a critical prerequisite for establishing and sustaining satisfying relationships between organization and the customers (Lassar et al., 2000). According to Yap, S.F., and Kew, M.L., there are many researchers who have defined service quality in different ways. Among them, Bitner, Booms and Mohr (1994) define service quality as the consumers overall impression of the relative inferiority or superiority of the organization and its services. While, other researchers like Cronin and Taylor (1994), view service quality as a form of attitude representing a long run overall evaluation. Service quality has determining the repeated purchase and customer loyalty to an organization. When a customer choose a provider that provides service quality that meets or exceeds his or her expectations, then the customer is more likely to choose the same pro vider again. According to Erol and El-Bdour (1989), Erol, Kaynak, and El-Bdour (1990) and Haron, Ahmad and Planisek (1994) observed that Islamic bank consumers rated the speed and efficiency of services near their top selection criterion on finance service provider. By referring to a study conduct by Erdener Kaynak and Talha D. Harcar (2005) is found that, the service quality provide by conventional banking system is excellent than the others. The study indicated that the customer maintain a higher level of confidence in conventional bank rather than Islamic bank. In this study, the service being tested including the swiftness in correcting errors, fast and efficient service, and consumer complains handling and the courtesy personnel. While according to Hendrik, L., Hirun, A., Razli, C.R., Halim, M.L., Khairul, A. A., and Darwina, A.A. (n.d), indicate that customer satisfaction on Islamic banking products and services is different across the cities. The service quality is satisfied within Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur and Penang because these cities are bigger which also contains more populations, and are more economically developed. Due to these reasons, the service provided is more satisfactory because of the customers characteristics which different from income level, gender and also educational level.Erol and El-Bdour (1989), Erol, Kaynak, and El-Bdour (1990) and Haron, Ahmad and Planisek (1994) observed that Islamic bank consumers rated the speed and efficiency of services near their top selection criterion on finance service provider. The emergence of the Internet provides an opportunity for organizations to conduct business in cyberspace. Steven et al (2002), Soliman (2003), Wirtz (2001), Coltman (2001) had studied that Internet adoption and factors influencing the propensity and pattern of adoption among different sectors and sizes of organizations worldwide and in Malaysia, empirical data on online insurance has been limited (Fatimah et al, 2000; Yusserie at el, 2002). One of the reasons may be because the insurance industry has been slow to respond to the usage of Internet for business,, as compared to the other financial service (Esters, 1997). In 1999, recognizing the potential of the Internet, Bank Negara Malaysia allowed a group of insurers to establish the industry first interactive insurance website, which enabled policy owners to transact on the line for renewal of policy and also premium payment(BNM 2000). Internet via individual companys website allows customers to gain more information about the product and services offered by the companies (Ruquet, 2001). While, not all the business organizations are adopting Internet in their business due to various reasons like customer readiness, cost and the risks involved. Zinkewicz (2000) said that business do not use the Internet for business because customers do not trust the process involved, instead, they prefer human interactions (Ainin and Jaafar, 2003). Accessibility Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product or service is accessible by as many people as possible. It also viewed as the ability to access the functionality and possible benefits of some system or entity like information of the particular products and services (Wikipedia, 2009). In Malaysia, there are total up 1,752 numbers of registered insurance agencies distributed throughout the thirteen states and two federal territories. Among of all, there are agencies which offer both life insurance and also general insurance business like American International Assurance Bhd, Etiqa Insurance Berhad, Hong Leong Assurance Berhad and so on (BNM, 2008). Other than that, there are only eight licensed Takaful operator in Malaysia which are CIMB Aviva Takaful Berhad, Etiqa Takaful Berhad, Hong Leong Tokio Marine Takaful Berhad, HSBC Amanah Takaful (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, MAA Takaful Berhad, Prudential BSN Takaful Berhad,Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad and also Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd (BNM, 2008). Convenience Convenience is composed of number factors including the availability of parking space, location of branches, long operation hours. (Jasmi Al-Ajmi, Hameeda Abo Hussain and Nadhem Al-Saleh, 2009). Customers will always prefer the products and services are available near to their working place or house area for the convenience of visiting. The sufficient parking space and long operation hours is for the convenience when visiting to the branch. Internet adoption is a type of convenience which offered by the insurance companies to their consumers, where consumers can get the products and services information through the website (Ainin and Jaafar, 2003). Other than that, interior comfort and external design also included affect the consumers perception on the convenience of selecting financial products. Status Status of an organization show measured through the strength of financial position, reputation and also the risk. As Islamic finance continue to expand. Islamic principles strong emphasis on the economic, ethical, moral and social dimensions, to enhance equality and fairness for the good of society as a whole should also have appeal for the ethnically minded (Jasmi Al-Ajmi, Hameeda Abo Hussain and Nadhem Al-Saleh, 2009). Study which conducted by Ahasanul Haque, Jamil Osman and Ahmad Zaki (2009) also revealed that banks name and reputation is a strong effect on selecting a bank. In order to penetrate the youth market, Takaful Malaysia announced on 11th November, that RM 15 million has been pumped into the companys rebranding exercise. After twenty-five years of leading in Islamic insurance company in the country, Takaful Malaysia is setting on conquering the insurance industry by transforming itself into a more youthful outfit. Reflective of its tagline of modern, young and energetic, the company will unveils its new fresh-looking logo, a color fusion of apple green and olive green, described by Takaful Malaysia group director Datuk Hassan Kamil as vibrant and energetic. Takaful Malaysia believes that its latest approach will enhance its image and make it more appealing to the younger age-group which Hassan deems as a highly potential market segment (Joseph Kaos JR, 2009). Others Other than the above criteria, according to a study conducted in Jordan indicated that profit motivated criteria was an important factor to choose a bank service. However, other findings are that peer group influence plays an important role in selecting Islamic banks as depository institution. Other than that, politeness and friendliness of the personnel will also impact on the customers perception towards the financial institutions (Ahasanul Haque, Jamil Osman and Ahmad Zaki, 2009). Determinants of demand for insurance Insurance has become an important part of a financial sector over the past forty years. It provides a range of investments product for consumers. It also becomes the major source of investment in the capital market. Yet, the reasons for consumption of insurance are various across the countries. Demographic factors were amongst (Thorsten Beck, 2003; Ian Webb, 2003, Yvette Reisinger, 2009). While according to the study conducted by Truett et al. (1990), the consumption of insurance is depend on the price of insurance, income level of individual, and also the demographic factors such as age of individual insured and also the educational level. Gender The majority women of American have health insurance through either employer or through a public program. There are 66.67 percents of all women aged from 18 to 64 owned insurance through their employer, while another 16 percents through public program in year 2007. In contrast, there is 7 percents of nonelderly women in year 2007 purchase health coverage directly from insurance companies which we known as the individual market. Yet, the National Womens Law Centre (NWLC) investigated two phenomena, the gender gap which refers to the difference in premium charged to female and male applicants of the same age and health status. Another phenomenon is the availability and affordability of coverage for maternity care across the country. Based on the research, NWLC (2008) found that the individual market is a place which is very hard for women to purchase the health coverage. This is because insurance companies can refuse to sell women coverage due to the historic data that women have a higher percentage compared to men in suffering from a chronic condition which requiring ongoing treatment for instances asthma or arthritis. In addition, if the insurers discovered that an applicant underwent a Caesarean Section (C-Section) during the medical underwriting process, the company may charge a higher premium, or impose an exclusionary period which it refuses to cover another C-Section or pregnancy. New reports also revealed that women are more likely than men in taking prescription medication on a regular basis. In these conditions, the insurance company may reject the applications. On the other hand, it is difficult and costly for women to find health insurance that cover maternity care. A limited number of insurers offered this in separately for an additional fees which known as rider. Yet, this supplemental coverage is often far higher than ordinary plan. So typically, women have no other choice to select more or less comprehensive rider policy (NWLC, 2008). Educational Level According to Tienyu Hwang (2003) and Simon Gao (2003), the level of education plays a very important role in affecting the demand of insurance. It has been shown that the increasing of the educated population in a country, the recognition of the availability of insurance products will also be increased. Thus, the demand for insurance will also be growing in the country. Despite the education level in China is relatively low (Truett and monitor, 1996; World Bank, 1998), the increase in the education level will lead to a large number of people being realizing and able to recognize the essentiality of insurance. Therefore, it is likely to create a demand to purchase insurance. On the other hand, although the level of education in China remains low, china has made a great progress in improving the education system since the economic reform. This has increase the education level which leads to a greater awareness and understanding on the role of insurance. Hence, the level of education and demand for insurance is positively correlated. However, Szpiro and Outreville (198) proved that higher education leads to lower risk aversion, and that, in turn, leads to more risk taking by skilled and well educated people. While accor