The Definition Of Community Development Sociology Essay

The Definition Of Community Development Sociology Essay In the last chapter, the researcher introduced the research background, stated the research aims and described the research problem. This chapter starts with the definition of community development, general concepts of community development and explores the community development framework. It also discusses community development in Belfast, Northern Ireland and links it to the basis of the study, which is the perception of residents on community development in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Definition of community development, general concepts of community and community development Community as a unit of action can play the lead in development of Belfast communities. The basic process of planning community development is to identify needs of communities in Belfast, establish mutually agreeable goals and objectives, and implement plans by mobilizing accessible resources and community coalitions for community betterment. Accordingly, a variety of community planning strategies and actions can be created and actively implemented with the involvement of Belfast residents. The definition of community has been discussed in a variety of ways for many decades. Hillery (1955); Kaufman (1959); Bell and Newby (1972); Wilkinson (1972) agreed that the three general components of a community include a shared territory, a local society, and a process of locality-oriented collective actions. Belfast as a city or community is made up of inner communities or neighbourhoods. A shared territory refers to a geographic location, such as a neighbourhood, town, city, county, region, country, and so forth. A local society is an integrated union in which the daily activities of people and a complement of social structures embody all aspects of a common life. A process of locality-oriented collective actions can be understood as the local residents exerting effort collectively on behalf of their common interests. In this research, I specifically focus on the town/city community levels in Belfast to better understand whether this level of community forms a strong sense of belonging, thereby binding its residents together and joining their inner effort in response to external social and economic changes, as well as the demands of community development in general. Fawcett et al. (1984) emphasized on local residents self-motivation to establish their development agendas for the community. The last element mentioned here is the opportunity of community members to participate in public discussion. It is important for community development to involve many individuals, segments, classes, and groups within the community, and that each member has an equal chance to speak up and take part in the public forum. In addition, democracy, rationality, and the orientation toward accomplishment of community development agendas in which Belfast residents participate are key factors. Communication and power structure within the community are also important aspects. Since a community is understood to be a living place manifesting the physical characteristics of a setting and a social and historical context, community development should be considered in terms of the meaning of locality through personal activities, experiences, shared values, and the common historical memory. As a result, the concepts of community and community development adopted in this study consist of a shared territory, a local society, and the process of community autonomy and empowerment for a general purpose of community betterment. 2.3 Community Development Frameworks The main focus of community development has been the normal concept of solving problems and betterment of quality of life in rural communities. The way to improve rural life and life in Belfast is to identify problems and then solve them by enhancing community empowerment and advancement. Sanders (1958) considers the importance of social organizations in Community development, which are in charge of certain missions within communities. Sanders identified the role of hierarchical structure in communities in terms of detecting problems, setting agendas, and implementing plans. His view of development emphasizes social channels through which community programs can be carried out. The social channels refer to a well-developed organization with a clear division of labour, resource accessibility, and members sharing common values and pursuing the same objectives. Social organizations are the primary agents participating in community process and mobilizing resources to implement plans for their common goal. Community development, according to Sanders, is equivalent to development of organizations in Belfast that effectively implement subject-matter specialties such as health, welfare, agriculture, industry, recreation, etc across all levels from groups and associations to communities and regions (Sanders 1958:5). *Rothman (1979) identified the social planning approach as one of the ways to understand community development. He argued that the social planning approach is a technical process with regard to a certain community problem and emphasized rational, deliberately planned, and controlled change within communities (Rothman 1979:27). The rationality approach helps to manipulate the process of community development into standard phases of identifying problems, mobilizing resources, and setting agendas to implement programs for the goal of social betterment. There must be a constant interaction between identifying a problem, making a decision, and taking action to share and express concerns or community problems for communities in Belfast to experience change. Community development provides a good opportunity to explore issues of poverty in Belfast. The emphasis is on the opportunity for creating jobs, thereby raising the real incomes of residents. Hence, Belfast as a community is seen as a collection of micro units, and these units, their interactions, and their relationships with external units comprise the community economic system. Since communities in Belfast have increasingly engaged in their economic development, there are at least two different strategies adopted: community-oriented self-development and exogenous industrial recruitment (Summers and Branch 1984). Exogenous industrial recruitment refers to a form of development that encourages outside investors and firms to locate their businesses in the rural communities where local residents might expect to have the power to set substantial management strategies to promote the communitys common benefit. Self-development has come with the awakening of community empowerment because the strategy of industrial recruitment for facilitating development has been criticized. The main factors that spur self-development were the exodus of factories and the stagnating economy in communities. Still, the effect of the flourishing grassroots movement cannot be ignored. For many communities in Belfast, self-development strategies offer potential benefits for maintaining or improving their economic activities. According to Flora et al., community-oriented self-development strategies involve cooperation between the public and private sectors to create locally-controlled jobs and new sources of income (1991:20). These authors also identified three characteristics of the self-development model: (1) involvement by a local government, (2) investment of substantial local resources, and (3) the control of enterprises or activities locally (Flora et al. 1991). As such, broad community involvement revitalizes local economic activities by financing and organizational effort. At the same time, local residents can choose businesses according to characteristics that fit their demand closely and that will not damage their natural resources permanently, alter their landscape irrevocably, or change their lifestyle dramatically. For example, Flora et al. (1991) categ orized community-oriented self-development projects based on major activities and found that the most popular projects involve tourism, arts and crafts fairs, and recreational or cultural activity. Following that, existing business retention and expansion and downtown revitalization are also seen as important projects (Flora et al. 1991). In other words, by developing clean/hospitality industry and revitalizing/individualizing their hometown, communities in Belfast can re-launch local economic activities with the goal of sustainably utilizing their natural resources and community assets. Since economic considerations that are dominant in modern societies have also been prevalent in community development studies, Belfast residents demand for a certain level of economic expansion to improve their economic conditions that reflects the core theme of this economic development approach. Since areas that depend on a single source of income are vulnerable to economic restructuring, the key is to provide them with diverse sources of economic sufficiency. Studies of community economic development illustrate how the structural disadvantages of community economic development influence the ways community members respond to local development paths and what strategies they adopt to solve problems. For example, according to Blakely (1994), communities have faced difficult and overwhelming circumstances in local economic development, and must be aware of the problems affecting the local economy and its consequences; local economic development and employment generation should be initiated at the community level to deal more effectively with these local problems facing the community (Blakely 1994:27). 2.4 Community as a field for development The community should be seen as a whole, rather than as the sum of its parts, wherein the interconnections among individuals, groups, associations, and organizations form concrete social forces to cope with external and internal changes facing the community (Fawcett et al. 1995). Kaufman (1959) argued that development must go beyond planned economic programs and place more priority on improving and increasing community residents identification with the locality in order to get them involved in the process of local development. This process empowers the local community. To carry out such identification with the locality, collaborative action and mutual identity are emphasized prominently in this theoretical orientation. Elaborating extensively on Kaufmans interactional perspective on community, Wilkinson (1970) tied social structure in to the context of community development. He claimed that social structure is defined in an interactional context as observable relationships built up through an action process by members. The role and position of members in a given interactional network are identified and classified to evaluate the pattern of the structure, which determines the continuity of social processes and the direction of social change. It is a network structure-building orientation of community development that focuses on integrative and generalizing networks in the local society (Wilkinson 1970, 1972). This interactional orientation of community development argued that the instrumental orientation of development sees project achievement as the ultimate goal of community development, but, in fact, development should be seen as a dynamic, ongoing process. There are inherent problems behind mate rial demands and physical construction, and there are no substantial, permanent solutions for them. Planned programs for community development are only one of many solutions to achieve social betterment and should focus on building the community field in which the collaborative capacity to pursue locality-oriented common interests is more crucial to the process of community development than solving the immediate physical problems. Wilkinson (1986) argued that empowered collective-oriented community action is the fundamental basis for community development and that community attachment plays an important role in fostering such processes of empowerment. Therefore, exploring the determinants of local residents attachment to their communities becomes an essential step to building up local capacity to deal with community development issues. It is not urbanization or industrialization that directly changes the relationships among local residents or their sense of community. It is the different opportunities and contexts for social interaction leading to different social dynamics that alter the connections between individuals and the society. Beggs et al. (1996) used a name generator method to gather information on respondents social networks and analyzed how closely the respondents interacted in daily life, as well as the strength and duration of their social ties in order to define community attachment. Others, like Brehm, Eisenhauer, and Krannich (2004), adopted multi-dimensional methods to measure community attachment via collective action indicators (including land-based production and conservation involvement, social involvement, and economic/development involvement) and natural environment attachment indicators. By considering two dimensions of community attachment, they found the concept of community attachment cannot be seen as simple social interaction, but as well-developed community cohesion through the linkage between individuals, organizati ons and their locality. Rothman (1979:26) contended that locality development should focus on the broad participation of a wide spectrum of people at the local community level in goal determination and action. According to Rothmans (1979) argument, such broad citizen participation is not only instrumental in solving specific community problems, but also for more general activities, such as democratic procedures, voluntary cooperation, community empowerment, and development of indigenous leadership. This locality development approach emphasized the whole local systems capacity for building and maintaining in which a fundamental network structure should be built up by establishing cooperative relationships among groups by creating a self-help community problem solving system and stimulating residents interest and participation in community affairs. These goals of locality development emphasized community organizations and the harmonious interrelationships among them. To integrate the arguments of community development as a process of interaction, community fields where the community capacity for collective action can be created for the common good and social betterment. Forms of interaction include formal and informal social contact within organized and unorganized social activities. Through such purposeful and non-purposeful interactions, social forces are raised to respond to local issues. Specifically, a community field is manifested in the interactional structure among local residents, groups, and organizations contributing together to the accomplishment of specific objectives of community projects. The central focus of community field theory is on structurally oriented interactions through which communication occurs and fosters positive and cohesive relationships among community members. In addition, Sharp (2001) analyzed community by for examining the concept of community field perspectives in the relationships between network structure and development. He found that these network structures can help community members to cooperate with local organizations, to access resources, to get information flowing among them, and to identify attributes of the community that enhance general capacity for local action. Pavey et al. (2007) contends that the ultimate goal of community development is to build the communitys capacity to manage its own world based on members own meaning systems. They focused on exploring whether sound social relationships were a driving force to stimulate community capacity and strengthen self-governance on community issues. In their findings, interactional field theory was confirmed by the positive relationship between the community field and economic development through horizontal linkages among community members. The changes of social distance and degrees of community attachment among local residents influence the potential community cohesion and collaborative action that can be taken to approach the community common good. Some empirical studies have examined this argument. Sharp (2001) focused on selected features of small-town social structure and its relationship to the community capacity for local action. Drawing on the interactional perspective, community network analysis, and community power research, he proposed an approach to measuring and evaluating the community field to understand more clearly the relationship between community structure and the capacity for local action. His findings complement the thinking on community social capital and social infrastructure and reveal that social relationships and local residents interaction structure are importantly associated with the community capacity for local action. Development should be focused on the community itself, rather than relying solely on neo-classical economics individualism and political-economics macro structuralism. Community development is as a means to an end, a process of guiding for a particular purpose that is eventually helpful to the local community. Furthermore, community development has been realized as a social movement, a process of empowering community that tends to build up its own organizational structure, accepted procedures, and active practitioners within its territory. It stresses and promotes the idea of community development as interpreted by its local residents. In response to such an argument, we might ask that, in the process of building horizontal network ties, hierarchical inequality of power within class, gender, or other social structures could be minimized in order to pursue empowerment of each individual. Traditional community researchers simplify community development as the process of community empowerment in which community capacity is crucial for a better life in the community. 2.5 Research focus from the framework Community development obviously has a variety of meanings to local residents and their personal attitudes toward the vision of their community future are influenced by their attitudes and opinions on issues facing the local community. This research primarily focuses on individuals attitudes toward their local community development through the five models. By examining the research hypotheses, this study analyzes rural residents experiences in local community life to determine preferences for community development alternatives as guided by the five elements of the model. In order to examine the research hypotheses in terms of the relationship between local residents general attitudes toward the current conditions and local community attitudes toward development alternatives, as well as individuals socio-demographic characteristics logistic regression modelling is applied. In five logistic regressions, individuals major concerns with regard to community development issues are used as the dependent variable. Independent variables are used to examine the dependent models through five research hypotheses. Resident attitudes towards community development preferences form the core theme in this research. Therefore, the significance of research is to examine observable changes that shape towards local community circumstances in response to developments their own expectations and attitudes toward future community development alternatives.

The Civil Rights Movement and the Decline in Racisim :: Racism, Civil Rights, Discrimination

Throughout the 60's, racism changed dramatically in a various number of ways. Changes involved the passage of bills into laws as well as involving the overall attitude of the people. Racism was largely based on white people's hatred towards blacks until the 1960's, when several major events increased problems both from whites towards blacks and from blacks towards whites. The biggest Social protest of the 1960's was the civil rights movement. It began on February 1, 1960, in Greensboro, North Carolina when four black students seated themselves at the whites only lunch counter and refused to leave until they were served. After the first sit-in, it began happening all over the country and by the end of the year, 70,000 blacks staged sit-ins. Throughout this, over 3,600 people were arrested. This movement was successful, but it demonstrated non-violent protests. After this movement began, several organizations developed. Such programs include; The NAACP, SNCC, SCLC, CORE, and the Black Panthers. The NAACP stands for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, while the SNCC stands for the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee. The SCLC stands for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference who started a segregation protest traveling to Birmingham, Alabama who had the reputation of one of the most segregated cities in the United States. On May 2, 1963, over six hundred protesters were arrested, and t he majority was teenage high schoolers. The next day, the police chief, Bull Conor, ordered his police officers to shoot the protestors with high-powered water hoses ordered their dogs to attack them. By the end of the march, only twenty people reached the City Hall. After the Birmingham demonstrations, the blacks gained support from the people from the North because they witnessed how violent the South was towards the black protestors. The CORE is for the Congress of Racial Equality and started the first series of Freedom Riders in May of 1961. They traveled on two interstate buses starting in Washington D.C. and traveling to New Orleans. The people who disagreed with this movement threw stones and burnt these traveling buses in order to show their dislikeness of the blacks. All of these programs promoted rights for African Americans. The Black Panthers was organized by the SNCC and became popular in the late 60's. It was founded in Oakland, California after they protested the bill that outlawed carrying loaded weapons in public.

Is it worth dying for one’s Christian principles? Essay

This question cannot really be answered with just a yes or no response, any one who answers it must be able to explain why because everyone has their own informed opinion on this question. Some people would say yes because as all Christians believe, there is life after death with God, so there is no reason why we should wish to escape death but the main reason that most people would come up with for saying no is that nothing is as important as your own life and that you should protect it at all cost no matter what is required (there is a limit e.g. most people would not be willing to kill another person). Martyrdom is a strong reason, not so much in that â€Å"If I die I will be a martyr and everyone will praise me!† Which people who say no might accuse Martyrs of doing, and they would say it is wrong to do that, but more in the sense â€Å"Martyr’s were willing to die so should I be willing to show my devotion to God by sacrificing my life for others and to witness the truth.† Some believe that when presented with death there are more important things than one’s self to think of, those being justice, mercy, forgiveness and peace while people saying no would counter with something like dying for your beliefs could be seen as suicide because you would just be letting yourself die and even God does not like people committing suicide. If you were in a place where Christians were persecuted and you died for your beliefs, you would be an inspiration for hope, so that your sacrifice may lead to better things for all people. This is a key point, that every sacrifice no matter how big or how small is important, but people in the same situation might not be willing to die because even Jesus the Son of God didn’t want to die, he prayed to God â€Å"my Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want.† So people argue that there is nothing wrong with not being willing to die f or one’s Christian belief. In my opinion I would have to say that in most cases it is worth dying for one’s Christian principles e.g. if you were in a place where Christians were being persecuted and people were denouncing their Christian principles, then in order to show them that you should never give up hope and to inspire them, it would be worth openly showing your Christianity which would certainly lead to death. But in other cases it would be a waste, e.g. if you were involved in a project that involved helping others less fortunate than yourself and you were told that if you were a Christian you would be killed, then I would use one of the arguments put forward by someone who might have said yes as reason for saying no which is to put other things before one’s self by thinking about all the people that need your help so desperately. In theory, there are more arguments as to why people should be willing to die for their Christian beliefs, but realistically even people who say yes, would in fact not be prepared to die, although there are some people who would, these are the true martyrs.

Free Essays on Young Goodman

In the Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 27 A-B, the people are given the traditional release of one prisoner. They have a choice, the just man Jesus Christ and the â€Å"notable† prisoner Barabbas. When asked which prisoner should be released the people responded, â€Å"Barabbas.† (convinced by the chief priests and elders.) Pontius Pilate asks what punishment he should be given. â€Å"They all responded: Let him be crucified.† Disturbed by the obvious injustice, Pilate feebly asks, â€Å"What evil hath he done?† The people rise in blind, tumultuous cries, â€Å"Let him be crucified!† Again, Pilate appeals to them by washing his hands before the people and saying, â€Å"I am innocent of the blood of this just person.† The impassioned crowd, the tumult rising, calls the accountability upon themselves, â€Å"His blood be on us, and on our children!† Bach captures the horrific nature of this event exquisitely in â€Å"The St. Matthew Passi on.† The chorus explodes into rising human voices, violently one upon the other, in a terrifying spectacle of mob mentality. The listener is disturbed; the wrongness of it frightens and saddens him. This is an example of a mass human sentiment. It is undeniably immoral and frightening in its intensity. The people are aroused beyond even what they have been convinced of, to the point of willfully taking the guilt of innocent blood onto the whole human race. What is this phenomena? To a rational individual, the passion of the masses is not only illogical, but depraved and evil; it is the product of an emotional momentum with nothing inherent in it to check its behavior. While, undoubtedly, a zealous mass sentiment could possibly work for a good thing, what is to insure that it will? A mass of humans has no collective moral conscious; there is no set of laws that it obeys, neither head nor heart exists to serve as guide. In the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx uses caustic and powe rfully persuasive rhetoric to inflame t... Free Essays on Young Goodman Free Essays on Young Goodman In the Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 27 A-B, the people are given the traditional release of one prisoner. They have a choice, the just man Jesus Christ and the â€Å"notable† prisoner Barabbas. When asked which prisoner should be released the people responded, â€Å"Barabbas.† (convinced by the chief priests and elders.) Pontius Pilate asks what punishment he should be given. â€Å"They all responded: Let him be crucified.† Disturbed by the obvious injustice, Pilate feebly asks, â€Å"What evil hath he done?† The people rise in blind, tumultuous cries, â€Å"Let him be crucified!† Again, Pilate appeals to them by washing his hands before the people and saying, â€Å"I am innocent of the blood of this just person.† The impassioned crowd, the tumult rising, calls the accountability upon themselves, â€Å"His blood be on us, and on our children!† Bach captures the horrific nature of this event exquisitely in â€Å"The St. Matthew Passi on.† The chorus explodes into rising human voices, violently one upon the other, in a terrifying spectacle of mob mentality. The listener is disturbed; the wrongness of it frightens and saddens him. This is an example of a mass human sentiment. It is undeniably immoral and frightening in its intensity. The people are aroused beyond even what they have been convinced of, to the point of willfully taking the guilt of innocent blood onto the whole human race. What is this phenomena? To a rational individual, the passion of the masses is not only illogical, but depraved and evil; it is the product of an emotional momentum with nothing inherent in it to check its behavior. While, undoubtedly, a zealous mass sentiment could possibly work for a good thing, what is to insure that it will? A mass of humans has no collective moral conscious; there is no set of laws that it obeys, neither head nor heart exists to serve as guide. In the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx uses caustic and powe rfully persuasive rhetoric to inflame t...

Zimbabwe Imperialism essays

Zimbabwe Imperialism essays Ever since the independence of Zimbabwe in 1980, it has become a violent, chaotic, and unstable country. Zimbabwes President Mugabe is a tyrannical leader, murdering both black and white farmers while promising a "Commitment to restore the rule of law to the process of land reform." Before Zimbabwes independence, however, Britain ruled a pretty-much cooperative land, where violence was only found when the Queen was forced to oppress negative uprisings by radicals that would only hurt their country. The road to Zimbabwes independence was long and suffering, but to the British government I pose this question: is the aftermath of gaining independence worth all of that? As a concerned Zimbabwean citizen, I believe not, and I think that it would not only be in Zimbabwes best interest to regain the aide of a stable nation, but Britain would gain the natural resource-rich land in southern Africa. This volatile and self-destructive nation needs reform, something that has been falsely p romised to the Zimbabweans since Mugabe became president. Although it is argued that the natives culture and traditions will be rid of with colonisation, Britain should have no interest in that, only reforming the government and bringing the economy to a stable pace. It is imperative that Britain re-colonise Zimbabwe for major political, economic, and social reasons: Zimbabwes leader is a tyrant who misleads and mistreats his people, the Zimbabwean economy is less then adequate and needs a boost to support the country, and the natives need reform so they may better their standard of living. Starting in 1889, the British South Africa Company controlled the colony of Rhodesia under a royal charter. During the 1920s and 30s, labour issues between the white and blacks in Rhodesia led to violent rebellion and the emergence of African political parties. In 1953 the Southern Rhodesia colony became part of the ...

Cross-cultural gender differences in the UK and Japan business Essay

Cross-cultural gender differences in the UK and Japan business - Essay Example Assessment of cross-cultural gender differences in business environment is extremely important due to a number of practical reasons. Apparently, the ways organizations value their employees determine a number of key business parameters, i.e.: organizational behavior and environment, communication, leadership, yet business performance. According to Hall culture serves a â€Å"silent language† which the parties need in addition to the language they are speaking in order to find a common ground for communication and mutual understanding. Business culture apparently serves a kind of â€Å"social glue† that binds people and provides them a clear identity as a community. Naturally, culture may also serve â€Å"social dissolvent† giving people a sense that they are different and belong to brand different communities. Cross-cultural gender differences bring the fundamental diversities into the business environment. According to Hofstede cultural dimensions, masculinity vs. femininity are the key factors that describe organizational culture in different states. In terms of gender differences Japan and the UK represent almost different poles. While Japan is the world’s most masculine society, the UK is masculine-feminine society. However, both countries are characterized as the societies with the growing role of women in business. The roles of women in business in Japan and the UK depend on anthropological issues significantly. While women in Japan have always been considered as mothers and housewives their counterparts in the UK have traditionally occupied the offices in business and governance. The cross-cultural gender differences reflect in the business practices of both states. ... Apparently, the ways organizations value their employees determine a number of key business parameters, i.e.: organizational behavior and environment, communication, leadership, yet business performance. According to Hall (1959) culture serves a "silent language" which the parties need in addition to the language they are speaking in order to find a common ground for communication and mutual understanding. Business culture apparently serves a kind of "social glue" that binds people and provides them a clear identity as a community. Naturally, culture may also serve "social dissolvent" giving people a sense that they are different and belong to brand different communities. In this survey I will evaluate cross-cultural gender differences in businesses in Japan and the United Kingdom, assess the impact of these differences on business practices and organizational effectiveness as well as evaluate the case studies of Japanese Toyota Corp. and the UK British Airways. Cross-cultural gender differences in the UK and Japan Nowadays there are at least several globally-recognized and influential frameworks of cultural differences assessment. Most of these frameworks have been designed specifically for business environment and include gender aspects (Inkeles and Levinson, 1969; McGregor, 1957; Hofstede, 1980; 1997; 2001). Among the models of cross-cultural gender differences Hofstede's framework seems to be most influential. Geert Hofstede was a Dutch organizational scientist employed by IBM in 1960s. Hofstede (1980) who was able to monitor organizational differences in cross-cultural perspectives assumed that there might be universal and culture-related variables that contribute to these differences. During 1968-1972 Hofstede analyzed the cases of 116.000 IBM

Business Finance - SOURC ES OF FUNDS AND CAPITAL STRUCTURE Research Paper

Business Finance - SOURC ES OF FUNDS AND CAPITAL STRUCTURE - Research Paper Example In this type of funding, the hire purchaser or hirer receives the property or good instantaneously after signing the purchase agreement. However, the ownership gets transferred fully after finishing the last instalment payment. Leasing The procedure of lease financing includes procurement of various assets by means of taking lease. Lease means one contract in which the ownership, the funding linked with the asset or the equipment and the risk taking are totally separated and shared by two or greater than two parties. In case of lease financing the lessor finances and the lessee accepts the risk, involved by utilization of the asset or equipment taken on lease, whereas a third party actually owns it. Another alternative way is that the lessor would own as well as finance the asset or equipment, whereas the lessee would enjoy using it along with bearing certain amount of risk. This type of transaction includes commercial arrangement in which the equipment owner possesses the right to t he asset or equipment user for utilising it in return of fixed rental. Long term sources of funds Long term sources of raising funds mainly include those sources which are needed for longer span of time. These types of financing activities are mainly associated with fund expansion projects. These projects are complex in nature and need huge sources for the funding activities. It is because of this reason that the organizations use long term sources for raising the funds. In many cases, the organizations do not make use of one single source of financing. The main long term sources of raising funds are: Equity Shares The equity shares form an essential part while considering the ownership of any particular company (Walter 3). When any business decides to expand its operation, it issues high number of shares, in order to raise the fund needed for effective implementation of the desired plan. This type of investment is an important source of raising the funds and it provides the investo rs with a certain portion of company’s profit along with taking part in taking company’s decisions (Hafer and Hein 15). This strategy of rising the funding by an organization out-performs all other strategies (Fontanills and Gentile 1; Rosen 8). When the earnings of a company are high, the stock prices increase resulting in higher profitability for the company as well as the investors. If the company originates from growing market then raising of fund by issuing its equity shares turns out to be highly profitable. However, when there is economic downturn the shares of the companies remain at high risk in spite of their high brand value and strong management. Preference shares Issue of preference shares is another way of raising fund where the dividends are payable on the shares at the fixed rate and paid only in case of earning of profit by them. Thus, there remains no obligatory burden for the company (â€Å"Methods of Raising Capital†). But these shares do not possess voting rights. Debentures The companies have power of