Category: Infrastructure

Book Summary

Authored by Pamela Collins and Ryan Baggett, the book Homeland Security and Critical Infrastructure Protection investigates the existing gaps in security systems, the various protection plans, and the projected viable options of ensuring that critical infrastructure of the US is safe and free from any hazard.

In the introductory chapters, precise arguments are made on the background of the US’ department of homeland security with an in-depth analysis of the process of evolution of the US’ security infrastructure.

This goal is accomplished through reviewing primary presidential directions in the effort to enhance security and/or maintain intelligence of the security apparatus, legislation, and methodologies of the safety of infrastructural assessment.

The second batch of chapters investigates social infrastructural sectors that have been identified as central to the enhancement of security of the United States. These sectors comprise the critical and essential infrastructure for driving economic and political prosperity of the United States.

Some of the discussed infrastructural elements include “banking, agriculture, telecommunication, finance, food, and even transportation” (Collins & Baggett, 2009). With a particular focus on the department of homeland security, the authors argue that the main objective or the noble mandate of homeland security is to ensure that infrastructure is free from any act of terrorism.

In this second batch of chapters, the authors also discuss the various methodologies of protection of the cited essential infrastructure.

Some of these methods include deployment of standard systems for enhancing security, maintenance of buffer zones, enhancing of intelligence, fostering information-sharing, partnership between public and the private sector, and putting of mechanisms of continued planning (Collins & Baggett, 2009).

Additionally, in this section of the book, the authors dwell and/or dig deep into the most dangerous and serious security problems that face particular infrastructural components. They also conduct an in-depth analysis of the current procedures of protecting such infrastructural elements. Finally, they offer their recommendation on the ways through which the infrastructure can be protected to guarantee the future security.

In the third section, the authors discuss the principal pillars that make the homeland security. These are recovery, prevention, preparedness, and response. This discussion is made even more relevant upon the discussion of the concepts of hazards and the mechanism of hazard prevention.

According to the authors, security hazards involve all situations or conditions that may put the security of citizens of the United States at risk (Collins & Baggett, 2009).

Thus, prevention measures constitute all activities that are deployed to ensure that the risk of attack does not occur. However, in the event of the occurrence, an appropriate response mechanism is required to restore normalcy in the shortest time possible. Another essential pillar discussed by the authors in details is hazard preparedness.

According to the authors, an effective disaster preparedness program needs to have cyclic ways of planning, organizing, equipping, evaluation training, and testing of disaster preparedness apparatus of the state (Collins & Baggett, 2009). The recovery pillar is based on the need to make decisions for the provision of immediate and urgent help to the affected persons and infrastructure in the event of occurrence of a security hazard.

The effort ensures that all the destroyed infrastructural elements are brought back to normal operation in the event of occurrence of an attack that seeps through the security agents and security intelligence systems. The book then sums up by providing a list of acronyms.

Strength and Weaknesses of the Book

Every scholarly work has its strength and weaknesses. In the realm of the strength of the book, Collins and Baggett provide incredible explanation of the background and historical roots of critical security infrastructure that requires protection together with the designated areas, which may be termed as the essential infrastructure that requires constant surveillance to keep the economy of the United States from being heralded by terrorists.

The book has a significant strength since it provides a comprehensive package for the military and other security agents of the US to develop an adequate understanding and assessment of the various threats that may face critical infrastructure, thus driving the financial, social, and political institutions of the US.

The book brings into details the infrastructure that may be viewed by people as secure and immune to terrorist attacks. This description helps to provide a thorough understanding of the capabilities of terrorists to make life impossible for the Americans.

For instance, the authors argue that water systems, electrical systems, and other installations, which support everyday life of the American citizens are some the most fragile infrastructural elements, which terrorists can capitalize on destroying to create suffering among the US citizens.

Unfortunately, people would only consider security threat an act that only comprises attacks such as the September 11 attacks. In this regard, the book offers an expanded view of critical infrastructure that requires protection.

Collins and Baggett define critical infrastructure as “systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets will have a debilitating impact on the security, national economic security, national health or safety, or any combination of those matters” (Collins & Baggett, 2009, p.65).

Borrowing from this definition, the authors are able to classify security threats into several categories. These categories can briefly be grouped into three main classes: physical, human, and cyber risks.

Conclusively, the book provides an in-depth analysis of all security threats that lie within the first two categories together with how the US department of homeland security has been responding to them. In case of the group of infrastructure that may be considered physical, the authors provide a comprehensive coverage of the various security issues and challenges affecting the efforts to ensure that such infrastructural elements are secure.

Physical infrastructure here refers to both tangible (products, components, animals, real estates, and facilities) and interminable properties. Through this discussion, a significant weakness of the book emerges since the authors do not give substantial evidence based on the ways of protecting the physical infrastructure considering that more than 85 percent of physical infrastructure is not owned by federal states.

Although the authors point out that protection of physical infrastructure may be enhanced by cooperation between the private sector and the government through the department of homeland security, the roles that the owners of the larger portion of physical infrastructure should play to enhance their security is not given magnificent attention.

Discussion of the roles of technology in enhancing security surveillance is a significant strength of the book.

While the authors explore valid ways in which technology through IT is deployed to increase security intelligence and information sharing within the department of homeland security is crucial, a weakness is introduced since there is no comprehensive discussion of the knowledge bases of the terrorists on the usage of information technology to enhance their terrorist activities.

The world is operating in an environment that is dominated by immense challenges of cyber threats. War against nations is shifting from being conducted on physical battlefields to the global network protocols through acts of cybercrimes such as offensive hacking.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Pamela Collins and Ryan Baggett’s book Homeland Security and Critical Infrastructure Protection offers important explanations of the efforts and achievements of the US department of homeland security in ensuring that all US citizens remain free from acts of terrorist attacks. They offer a discussion of various infrastructural components that are considered critical and hence requiring adequate protection.

Amid this discussion, some weaknesses of the book have been identified in the paper. It is recommended that the authors consider integrating a detailed analysis of cybercrimes, their impacts on the security and infrastructural systems of the US, and/or how such crimes can be positively identified and/or responded before attacks are successfully implemented.

This recommendation is made in recognition of the fact that, amid technological developments of the United States, enemies are also well educated and constantly looking for loopholes for attacking the US information systems to destruct the capacity of the department of the homeland security to prevent, develop preparedness, and respond to emergency including terrorist attacks.

Opinion

The security of a nation is one of the most important functions of a government. For people who wish to know and gain insights into how national infrastructure can be protected cannot run away from reading Pamela Collins and Ryan Baggett’s text Homeland Security and Critical Infrastructure Protection.

The book is also valuable to the department of homeland security. It identifies possible areas for improvement to enhance protection of critical infrastructural installations in the US as a primary mandate of the department of the US homeland security.

Reference

Collins, P., & Baggett, R. (2009). Homeland Security and Critical Infrastructure Protection. Westport: Praeger Security International.

Introduction

Every country has specific institutions and agencies as well as policies and strategic plans that enable them to ensure the safety of their population. The United States has tools of its own to address the challenges of the modern world. One of the primary concerns of the American government is terrorism as this phenomenon has been associated with considerable civilian casualties and massive destruction (Nemeth, 2016). The tragic consequences of the 9/11 attack led to a substantial reorganization of agencies aimed at ensuring people’s safety. This paper includes a brief analysis of the concepts of homeland security and homeland defense as well as the critical infrastructure within the domain of homeland security.

Homeland Security and Homeland Defense Concepts

Missions, Responsibilities, and Resources

The United States, like every other country, has had to address numerous issues throughout its history. National security and the protection from foreign forces have become a central concern of the US government in the 20th century (Nemeth, 2016). The concept of homeland defense is closely linked to the country’s efforts to address such challenges. The Department of Defense (DOD) is responsible for developing and implementing strategies to predict, prevent, and mitigate the adverse outcomes of diverse events (Department of Homeland Security [DHS], 2006). Apart from addressing military issues, the DOD responds to such threats (and their aftermaths) as natural and manmade disasters, including but not limited to biological and chemical catastrophes, terrorist attacks, and floods, as well as fighting forest fires (Nemeth, 2016). Included in the Department of Defense are the US Navy, Air Force, and Army. This department of the US government is also related to agencies such as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. However, the DOD has been found lacking in the efforts to preserve national security. For example, Roberts (2014) notes that it often fails to achieve its primary goals or responds to hazards ineffectively due to a lack of coordination between the agencies in different states.

The concept of homeland security is mainly associated with terrorism and authorities’ efforts to address this issue. Homeland security can be defined as any governmental agency’s effort to predict, prevent, and respond to such hazards of modern society as terrorist attacks and natural and manmade catastrophes. This notion was established after the 9/11 attacks as a result of Americans’ sudden realization that they were vulnerable (DHS, 2010). Thus, an agency was created in October 2001 to concentrate on the prevention, detection, and mitigation of the outcomes of terrorist attacks. Furthermore, the war on terrorism is connected to the war on drugs (Nemeth, 2016). The resources needed for responding to hazards are also available through such agencies as the US National Guard, the United States Secret Service, and the Transportation Security Administration, among others. However, in this area, as well, a lack of coordination is seen as a major limitation to homeland security efforts.

Overlapping Responsibilities and Homeland Security Definition

In dealing with terrorism, the responsibilities and activities of the agencies related to homeland security and homeland defense overlap. The institutions related to homeland security and defense are tasked to try to prevent and respond to any type of terrorist attack, which can take many forms, including explosions, shootings, or assassinations (Nemeth, 2016). On the one hand, sharing responsibilities enhances the country’s ability to keep its citizens safe. On the other hand, the fact that numerous agencies may be involved brings more issues than solutions due to a lack of coordination and even conflicting interests.

American Critical Infrastructure

Critical Infrastructure, Homeland Security, and Homeland Defense

Critical infrastructure can be defined as “[s]ystems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction… would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety” (Simpkins, 2018, p. 4). Some examples of such assets and systems are nuclear power plants, airports, railroads, educational and government facilities, and airplanes. As the definition implies, critical infrastructure relates directly to homeland security and homeland defense. While damage to or destruction of the systems mentioned above may disrupt the daily activities of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people and cause social unrest, serious hazards to the public health, and other negative outcomes, the crippling or loss of such assets and systems could have the auxiliary impact of preventing the corresponding agencies and forces from reaching the affected region and responding to the emerging threats.

Resources Necessary to Protect Critical Infrastructure

Depending on the type of critical infrastructure involved, it is important to employ certain resources to protect from harm. In the case of hard targets (nuclear power plants, governmental facilities, airports, and other sites), the DOD and its corresponding departments and agencies are involved (Simpkins, 2018). The army in addition to such bodies as the US National Guard and the federal Transportation Security Administration can ensure the safety of these facilities. The major effort in this endeavor is aimed at preventing and protecting the systems and assets. The agencies mentioned above are not usually engaged in protecting soft targets such as restaurants or hotels. Nevertheless, when responding to various hazards, the bodies mentioned above come into play.

Personal Assessment of US Current Infrastructure Protection Efforts and Ways to Address Them

As no mass destruction has occurred since the events of 9/11, it can be argued that homeland security efforts conducted by the American government have been largely successful, but these protective agencies have failed to help many people. One of the most vulnerable areas today is cybersecurity, encompassing assets that can be destroyed by a terrorist group or skilled individual. Recent issues involving Russian cyberattacks indicate that gaps exist and should be addressed. To ensure security in this field, it is important to provide additional funding to the corresponding agencies. For example, it is critical to invest in research aimed at developing effective strategies, tools, and technologies that can be used to ensure the country’s cybersecurity. Improving recruitment policies can help the government attract talent and prevent skilled people from being engaged in unlawful activities. Finally, additional training related to cybersecurity should be provided to individuals associated with critical infrastructure.

Conclusion

In summary, the concepts of homeland security and homeland defense are similar but are characterized by different focuses. The former is concerned with the war on terrorism, while the latter effort is associated with responses to a wide range of challenges. It is important to note that a central problem related to homeland security and defense is a lack of coordination among the numerous agencies and facilities, which can lead to a variety of adverse outcomes. Protecting critical infrastructure can be seen as one of the priorities of homeland security and defense efforts. Finally, to ensure the safety of critical infrastructure as well as overall national security, it is pivotal to address cybersecurity issues.

References

Department of Homeland Security. (2006). Civil defense and homeland security: A short history of national preparedness efforts. Web.

Department of Homeland Security. (2010). Quadrennial homeland security review report: A strategic framework for a secure homeland. Web.

Nemeth, C. P. (2016). Homeland security: An introduction to principles and practice (2nd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Roberts, P. (2014). The lessons of civil defense federalism for the homeland security era. Journal of Policy History, 26(03), 354-383. Web.

Simpkins, B. K. (2018). Introduction to critical infrastructure security and resilience. In R. K. Baggett & B. K. Simpkins (Eds.), Homeland security and critical infrastructure protection (2nd ed.) (pp. 1-32). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

Department of Homeland Security: Mission, Operations, and Responsibilities

The Department of Homeland Security’s mission is “to ensure the country is secure and safe against terrorism and other potential hazards” (DHS Critical Infrastructure Security, 2016, para. 3). That being the case, the department coordinates various activities and responses to ensure every critical asset is protected. The department brings together many players from tribal, governmental, and private sectors to achieve this mission.

These stakeholders play a significant role in developing the best security measures. As well, research is executed continuously to produce new technologies that can respond to various disasters and threats. The other responsibility is to secure and protect the country’s borders. Security measures are put in place to safeguard the country from terrorism. The organization “collaborates with different players to ensure resilient to every disaster in the country” (National Infrastructure Protection Plan, 2009, para. 4).

Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Initiatives

Kim and Solomon (2013) define “Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) as a powerful concept aimed at improving preparedness and response to unexpected incidents that might affect the integrity of a nation’s critical infrastructure” (p. 24). Several CIP initiatives are therefore undertaken to support the integrity of every critical asset. Such initiatives are undertaken depending on the nature or stage of the incident. The first initiative is detection whereby possible vulnerabilities and threats are identified. The response becomes a critical CIP initiative, especially after the targeted disaster, occurs (Kim & Solomon, 2013). Recovery is also undertaken to restore the integrity of the affected infrastructure (Deshmukh & Qureshi, 2011). Planning and prevention are critical CIP initiatives undertaken to protect infrastructures from different forms of attack.

CIP initiatives protect critical assets that support a nation or a wider region. Such initiatives are undertaken because an incident affecting the infrastructure can have significant implications. For example, an attack on a nation’s electricity grid system will affect the lives of more people and economic activities (Deshmukh & Qureshi, 2011).

Several methods can be used to protect different assets. The most preferable protection method is usually dictated by the nature of the targeted asset. For instance, computer systems can be protected using physical security strategies as well as advanced anti-virus software. Remediation is the concept used to describe the major strategies used to protect assets from various risks (Kim & Solomon, 2013). Physical systems, barriers, surveillance systems, and security measures are also used to protect different assets.

How CIP Has Advanced Between the Releases of the DHS and NIST

The Executive Order 13636 of 2013 was aimed at “enhancing the resilience and security of the country critical infrastructure and maintain a cyber environment that promoted innovation, efficiency, security, civil liberties, and economic prosperity” (Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, 2014, para. 2). The implementation of NIST’s Framework for Improving Infrastructure Cybersecurity was the product of this Executive Order. To achieve the most desirable goals, the releases of the NIST’s framework and DHS’ National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) have been advanced through the concept of CIP.

To begin with, the CIP approach offers specific functions that can be undertaken to support the integrity of different systems and critical infrastructures. That being the case, NIST and DHS always collaborate in an attempt to produce the best responses to the threats associated with cyber-security (Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, 2014). The CIP functions have been used as a benchmark to describe the most appropriate detection, planning, response, protection, and recovery measures. By so doing, the issue of cyber-security has been taken seriously than ever before. This has been the case because cybercrime has become a major challenge that threatens the effectiveness and performance of different information technology systems.

The six CIP phases have played a significant role to advance between the releases of the NIST’s framework and DHS’ NIPP. The phases have been used “to create the most desirable framework for a comprehensive solution for critical IT infrastructures in the country” (Kim & Solomon, 2013, p. 42).

The phases are used to analyze, remediate, mitigate, respond, and reconstruct every vulnerable infrastructure. These attributes are embraced by these two agencies to produce an effective Cybersecurity Framework (Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, 2014). The “Cybersecurity Framework should be treated as the most appropriate baseline for risk management and cyber-security improvements in the country” (Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, 2014, para. 17). These two departments are always ready to work with different stakeholders such as owners of critical assets, operators, federal and state governments, private stakeholders, and technologists to deal with cybercrime.

Concerns for IS Professionals

Information Systems (IS) professionals required to protect the United States’ infrastructure should be concerned by specific vulnerabilities. The first group of threats is physical. Some threats such as fires, system breakdowns, human errors, and floods should be considered by these professionals. Malpractices such as vandalism, theft, and disruption should also be taken seriously. These professionals should ensure there are adequate physical control measures to protect such systems (Kim & Solomon, 2013).

Non-physical threats pose the greatest risk to these systems. For instance, loss of data or corruption is a major issue that can result in a system breakdown. Phishing and computer viruses can pose a major threat to every IS technology (Deshmukh & Qureshi, 2011). Spyware, worms, and adware should also be monitored using effective software systems.

Three Methods to Protect US’ Critical Infrastructure

Several methods can be used to protect the country’s critical infrastructure. To begin with, physical barriers and highly-trained personnel can improve the protection of every critical infrastructure in the country. The second important approach is tackling the problem of terrorism from a global perspective. The events of September 11 explain why many systems are threatened by global terrorism. This method will minimize the chances of terrorist attacks.

By so doing, more assets will be protected to support the welfare of more citizens. The third protection method revolves around the use of advanced software applications. Different professionals should embrace the use of “logical security measures to protect every critical infrastructure” (Kim & Solomon, 2013, p. 128). The method will result in the production superior of anti-viruses that can tackle the challenge of cybercrime.

Effectiveness of IS Professionals

From a personal perspective, I strongly believe that IS professionals are effective in protecting the United States’ infrastructure. This is the case because the country’s agencies have managed to tackle potential threats while at the same time safeguarding the integrity of different systems. The prosperity and economic performance of the country are therefore attributable to the timeless contributions of these professionals. However, these are professionals can collaborate with innovators and private programmers to come up with superior systems and CIP initiatives (Deshmukh & Qureshi, 2011). Such a move will produce superior response systems that can protect more critical assets.

Reference List

Deshmukh, A., & Qureshi, R. (2011). Transparent Data Encryption: Solution for Security of Database Contents. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 2(3), 25-28. Web.

DHS Critical Infrastructure Security. (2016). Web.

Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity. (2014). Web.

Kim, D., & Solomon, M. (2013). Fundamentals of Information Systems Security. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Web.

National Infrastructure Protection Plan. (2009). Web.

In the contemporary healthcare environment, information technology (IT) infrastructure occupies a special place, promoting medical service standards, staff performance, patients’ experience, and well-being overall. IT infrastructure consists of integral and interrelated components such as software, hardware, operating system (OS), network resources, and data storage used to deliver IT solutions and services to customers, partners, and employees. This paper aims at examining the IT infrastructure of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, assessing its strengths and weaknesses, and discussing the nursing informatics’s role within this organization and how it could be enhanced

Description of the Organization

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is an academic healthcare establishment situated in Winston-Salem and founded in 1923 when North Carolina Baptist Hospital opened. The center comprises three entities, namely, Wake Forest Baptist Health, Wake Forest School of Medicine, and Wake Forest Innovations. It is one of the largest employers in the city with over 14000 employees and over 300 primary care and specialty clinics in total and five community and one children’s hospital, as of 2019 (Wake Forest Baptist Health, 2019). Each year, the organization deals with approximately 60000 inpatient admissions and observation patients and almost two million outpatient visits and has about 1500 system-wide licensed beds at its disposal (Wake Forest Baptist Health, 2019). As of the fiscal year 2017, Wake Forest Baptist Health gained $373.9 million benefits to various home community areas, including community health, research, outreach, educational programs and services, and charity care (Wake Forest Baptist Health, 2019). The medical activities of the center include cancer, nephrology, urology, gastroenterology, neurology and neurosurgery, pediatrics, pulmonology, ear, nose, and throat.

IT infrastructure

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center currently possesses the most advanced IT infrastructure that allows it to store and process a tremendous volume of information and deliver high-quality service. In 2014, the organization conducted its assessment of the IT environment, which helped significantly renovate and modernize its infrastructure (Landi, 2017). After evaluating technology solutions providers, executives decided to implement a converged infrastructure method implying the consolidation of networking, computer, and virtualization silos into a unified system to maintain all organization’s applications. The new infrastructure operates based on Dell EMC’s Vblock Systems that provide the infrastructure with Wake Cloud, a software-defined data center, and integrate 1,131 applications onto the shared IT environment (Landi, 2017).

Consequently, the company has enhanced its Epic EHR performance, reduced its maintenance cost, and improved uptime. Additionally, the organization has managed to achieve 96 percent virtualization due to the project compared to 22 percent earlier (Landi, 2017). To realize such outcomes, the IT infrastructure needs numerous storage area networks and around 1,500 servers (Landi, 2017). Finally, the organization uses Intelligent InSites’ operational intelligence software and CenTrak’s Gen2 IR RTLS hardware as part of its enterprise visibility solution (“Improving Organizational Infrastructure,” n.d.). This also enables the Medical Center to demonstrate profound operational analytics capabilities.

The Role of Nursing Informatics

Nursing informatics refers to a field of nursing that incorporates information and computer sciences and nursing to provide data communication management to support the nursing practice and enhance patient care outcomes. Technologies that have been developed as a result of healthcare informatics include electronic medical records (EMRs), computerized provider order entry (CPOE), test results, medication records, among others (“Nursing Informatics,” n.d.). Within the organization, nurse informaticists play an essential role in ensuring patient safety. In particular, nurses and other clinical clinicians are required correct and relevant information to access patients’ anamnesis, lab and imaging results, medication lists, and interdisciplinary staff notes to make appropriate decisions. Furthermore, nurse informaticists substantially contribute to improved communication between team members and the development of up-to-date technologies, which is vital for decreasing patient care delays, medical errors, and healthcare costs. To enhance nursing informatics, the primary focus should be placed on comprehensive and systematic training and education of healthcare providers, especially nurses. This suggests providing the necessary and up-to-date knowledge and skills of personnel and conducting their regular assessment.

References

Improving Organizational Infrastructure and Operations Through Analytics. (n.d.). HIMSS Analytics. Web.

Landi, H. (2017). At one North Carolina health system, transforming the IT infrastructure to meet future needs. Healthcare Innovation. Web.

Nursing Informatics.(n.d.). RegisteredNursing.org. Web.

Wake Forest Baptist Health (2019). STATs [PDF document]. Web.

Summary

With objectives like a means of renewing national health service (NHS) and adequate maintenance of health facilities in the long-term, the private finance initiative (PFI), a public-private partnership (PPP) model has been highly controversial. With research literature focusing on PFI’s long-term financial characteristics, especially on health service operators, the article establishes the relationship between healthcare infrastructure design and PFI towards enabling it in PFI’s future adaptability in NHI.

Analysis

The PFI was not responsible in the delivery of stakeholder benefits by stimulating innovation. From the study, the special purpose vehicle (SPV) resulted in an increased focus on project risk analysis and focus on the same. Moreover, through PFI, the levels of distrust in the stakeholders were undoubtedly increased based on longer demands for risks, which manifested among the clients. Additionally, despite the intention by the government to impact changes in future service demands in NHS, the level of innovativeness with the model was little (James & Martina, 2009). The lack of stimulating innovation among stakeholders was coupled with the desire to incorporate a degree of scheme’s adaptability relative to new design solutions.

Due to the lack of support in the ability to innovate, SPV became more of an actor in the promotion of more collaborative working ways and an integrator. Moreover, from the findings, the study shows the roles and responsibilities of the SPV appeared to be fragmented between clinical operational and project delivery sides of the schemes. The responsibilities of hospital stakeholders were to maintain trust to the facilities and to the users. That was the case despite being employed by SPV’s contractors. The need of the stakeholders was to feed the process in a way that was performance-oriented and methodical, which was never realized by the integration of the PFI in service delivery. The other concern informing the need and expectation of the stakeholders was to become fully involved in clinical process (James & Martina, 2009). However, the expectation was never achieved based on trust deficit in PFI’s incorporation in the facilities.

Meeting the needs and expectations of the stakeholders would require integrating the scheme in the clinical process through fully involving the stakeholders in every area. Thus, the government should start by building trust among the stakeholders to facilitate willingness and ability to engage in the planning process (James & Martina, 2009). Through such, the PFI would not only meet the needs and expectations of the stakeholders but also enable the facilities to take advantage of the scheme.

Recommendations

Based on the challenge to effectively earn the trust of the stakeholders in the planning process, it is recommended that the government should allow its representatives to form trust with private sector members. Effective public-private partnerships rely on trust, an essential aspect that must be considered (Mitchell, 2019). Not only does trust allow partners to think outside the box but also facilitates in the committee an ability to design an effective planning process (Cunningham & Cuba, 2020). Moreover, the government should employ the appropriate procedures in the design process. Such a realization will counter the challenge associated with a less systematic briefing process. The emergence of an integrated procurement context should also create a supportive climate for collaboration (James & Martina, 2009). The PFI has its challenges, but the human factor in such activities should bring the necessary benefits.

Implications

With trust between public and private sectors, PFI’s effect in health care facilities will not only facilitate full integration of the supply chain but will also allow for risk assessment in the planning process in the short term. Other short-term examples are additional costs for innovation and procurement processes. Moreover, the integration will counter the challenge associated with a fixed early bidding process in the long term (Mitchell, 2019). Other longstanding expectations include a commitment to the project and the improvement of SPV members’ reputations (James & Martina, 2009). The outcome will enable facilities to experience collaboration and new ideas discussed in the bidding process.

References

Cunningham, L. A., & Cuba, S. (2020). Margin of trust: The Berkshire business model. Columbia University Press.

James, B., & Martina, K. G. (2009). Delivering innovation in hospital construction: Contracts and collaboration in the UK’s private finance initiative hospitals program. California Management Review, 51, 2, 126-143.

Mitchell, M. T. (2019). Supporting innovators: Trust, purpose, partnership. Center for Creative Leadership.

Natural events regularly occur; however, sometimes, they become many times more dangerous, turning into disasters. For coastal areas, hurricanes are the most frightening and destructive emergencies. Depending on their category and severity, they can damage trees or destroy buildings for kilometers from the coastline. This paper’s purpose is a comparative analysis of two devastating hurricanes of the past decade: Maria and Dorian.

First of all, during typhoons, the infrastructure of coastal zones, especially cities, suffers. A powerful stream of water can completely smudge roads, damage and interrupt communications, leading to a complete destabilization of the situation due to lack of communication. According to statistics, the hurricane season of 2019 in the Atlantic was extremely active, which can be noted on the consequences of Hurricane Dorian (Pasch et al., 2020). A hurricane-induced rise in water six and a half feet above normal flooded many roads. In the Bahamas, almost all beaches and streets were drowned, which exceedingly complicated movement (National Hurricane Center, 2020). Hurricane Maria did no less damage in Puerto Rico, especially in the city of San Juan. The streets were flooded with a storm, the water level in some places reached a level of 15 feet, which disabled many roads and cut off communications (National Hurricane Center, 2018). The city’s main airport was also damaged, and its work was disrupted due to the blowing wind.

Since both of the aforementioned hurricanes were disasters of the fifth category, the scale of the destruction that they brought was genuinely catastrophic. In the Bahamas, the storm wave height was about 20-25 feet, which affected the subsequent damage. According to statistics, almost 75% of homes on the northernmost island of the archipelago, Grand Bahama, were destroyed (National Hurricane Center, 2020). For the most part, those houses that were not so close to the water or were stronger lost their roofs due to hurricane winds. Significant damage was also caused by uprooted trees, which were thrown into the next building. According to statistics, the loss that Puerto Rico suffered was even more significant since 80 percent of all buildings were damaged after the hurricane on the island (National Hurricane Center, 2018). The causes and damage patterns are similar to the incident in the Bahamas – huge waves, combined with gusts of wind speeds of up to 155 mph, demolished many roofs and destroyed many houses.

No less damage from storms was caused to many critical resources. For the Bahamas, the most dangerous was water pollution due to a significant oil leak. The power network on New Providence Island was partially affected, but the next day up to 40% of the grid was restored, which provided residents with electricity (National Hurricane Center, 2020). For Puerto Rico, resource disruptions were much more significant. The island’s energy system was hit hardest, leaving nearly three and a half million inhabitants without power. The damage was so substantial that it took several months to repair it (National Hurricane Center, 2020). Together with the destruction of the mobile network and the ruin to most of the cables, Puerto Rico was practically deprived of the benefits of civilization.

The easiest way to assess the damage caused by hurricanes is to assess the situation created by the disaster in monetary terms. In the context of this comparison, the Bahamas suffered much less than Puerto Rico. The total damage in the Bahamas is estimated at $ 3.4 billion, most of which relate to property damage (National Hurricane Center, 2020). In second place in terms of costs for this region are economic losses, estimated at almost 700 million. In comparison, the damage that Puerto Rico has suffered is estimated at $ 90 billion (National Hurricane Center, 2018). Particularly significant damage was done to the infrastructure, power lines, communications stations, and radars. Besides, the region’s agricultural industry has been struck hard, as nearly 80 percent of the estimated 780 million dollars crops were destroyed (National Hurricane Center, 2018). The most substantial losses were suffered by coffee plantations, in which more than 18 million coffee trees were damaged.

Unfortunately, not a single catastrophe of this magnitude can do without casualties. Regardless of the measures taken, alerts do not always reach people on time. Hurricane Dorian has become one of the most massive disasters for the Bahamas region in its history. According to statistics, in the middle of a natural disaster, more than 70 thousand residents were homeless. By the beginning of 2020, after numerous searches, 74 dead people, and almost three hundred missing people were found (National Hurricane Center, 2020). Thus, the Bahamas suffered the most from all other places from this hurricane, surpassing, for example, the state of Florida in the number of deaths by almost 12 times. However, its loss of fades amid deaths from one of America’s most deadly hurricanes, Maria. During the disaster in Puerto Rico, according to statistics, nearly 3,000 people have died, and another 60 are still missing (National Hurricane Center, 2018). However, as with any emergency, valuable lessons can be learned from this incident.

It can be noted that the disaster in Puerto Rico took on a much larger scale than the accident in the Bahamas. This is true for all parameters, from the number of people killed to the extent of infrastructure damage and the damage caused. The main reason for such dire consequences was the many internal problems. Puerto Rico owes more than $ 100 billion in debt due to a protracted economic crisis that has lasted since 1917 (Rodríguez-Díaz, 2018). Various control systems are hopelessly outdated, which has reduced their reliability. Besides, there was an imposition of two natural disasters, since the region had not yet had time to recover from the hurricane Irma when Maria came. However, there were significant infrastructure problems that led to additional damage. First of all, it is necessary to strengthen these facilities to prevent such disasters and increase the reliability of infrastructure networks to withstand even such harsh conditions. If government agencies do not cope with this task, it may make sense to conclude partnership agreements with private organizations to monitor the state of infrastructure.

Thus, it can be noted that in the more prepared Bahamas, compared with the plight of Puerto Rico, the situation was much more prosperous. The expanded nature of the destruction is associated with the island location of this region, which implies a higher exposure to such natural phenomena. However, if the state does not strengthen the infrastructure, create protective measures, and pursue the wrong preparatory policies, the disaster results can be genuinely terrifying, as in Puerto Rico. In this regard, it is imperative to maintain the infrastructure of coastal areas in a stable condition to ensure residents’ safety. It can be done both by the state itself and by partner companies that monitor the state of the facilities. When the government is not able to maintain infrastructure in good condition, it is the latter approach that is recommended.

References

National Hurricane Center. (2018). Hurricane Maria. Web.

National Hurricane Center. (2020). Hurricane Dorian. Web.

Pasch, R. J., Roberts, D. P., & Blake, E. S. (2020). The 2019 Atlantic hurricane season: An active and destructive year. Weatherwise, 73(3), 32-39. Web.

Rodríguez-Díaz, C. E. (2018). Maria in Puerto Rico: Natural disaster in a colonial archipelago. American Journal of Public Health, 108(1), 30–32. Web.

Facilitating the communication between different elements of the city infrastructure is a crucial task, and the transportation system is what the success of communication hinges on.

With the integration of improved transportation system principles into the infrastructure of Melbourne, the environment for purring the growth of local SMEs has been created. Affecting the PPP (public–private partnership) market on an internal level, the changes within the transportation system have incorporated the key principles of the Australian economy and, thus, contribute to the advance of the Australian market.

The most obvious changes made to the Australian transportation system so far, the alterations in the process of decision making process must be mentioned.

With the incorporation of the key economic principles into the supervision of the transportation processes, a rapid increase in the flexibility of the transportation processes for all parties involved (Australian Government vi). The decision making process, therefore, has been shifted towards the reduction of financial risks and the proper distribution of liabilities among the parties.

The recent suggestion of integrating the key economic concepts into the improvement of the city infrastructure has triggered the necessity to reinvent the cost assessment strategies.

At present, the traditional CBA approach allows for estimating the approximate revenue that the Australian government and the local SMEs, as well as major entrepreneurships, are going to attain with the incorporation of the new transportation principles into the city infrastructure, is rather viable.

The new approach, however, will require a rearrangement of financial resources, since the costs for the issues related to transportation, are expected to be cut: “By reducing the comparative cost of public transport as compared to driving, we will encourage more people to use the public transport that is closest to them” (Department of Transport, Planning and Local Transportation (Planning) 101).

Thus, with the integration of the economic principles integrated into the projects related to public transportation, the CBA analysis is most likely to be shaped considerably, with a significant shift of the emphasis onto the economic profitability of the avenues chosen and an impressive benefit acquired from the transportation fees assigned by the new principles of transportation regulation (Department of Treasury and Finance 15).

The positive changes, which the inclusion of the key economic principles into the city infrastructure in general and the system of transportation in particular will supposedly be delivered, also concern the transparency of the financial transactions carried out in the course of the transportation process.

There is no secret that the incorporation of economic concepts into the public transportation processes may lead to considerable ethical issues, including the possibility of money laundering, bribes, etc.

In order to prevent the possibility of compromising the integration of economy and transportation in Australia, it will be necessary to design a system allowing for complete and uncompromising transparency of the financial transactions within the transportation sphere.

Particularly, the cost-benefit analysis (CBA) requires especial transparency. More to the point, the key “institutional and governance arrangements” (Australian Government 6) also need to у as transparent as possible so that the tiniest issues could be located immediately and addressed accordingly.

The concept of public–private partnership is not new to the Australian government. Allowing for a considerable flexibility, the specified approach was been in use for quite a while in a range of Australian regions, including Victoria, New South Wales, etc. (Regan and Smith 365).

Largely defined as toll roads, PPPs have contributed to the evolution of the state economy, as the toll that travellers are supposed to pay makes an impressive chunk of the state budget and is used for the development of the state economy. Therefore, it can be assumed that the implications of applying economic concepts to the projects related to transportation in Australia should be deemed as rather worthy.

Naturally, the specified approach is far from being flawless.

As much space as it provides for the evolution of the Australian entrepreneurship in general and the development of more elaborate logistics approaches in particular, the Plan Melbourne Metropolitan Planning Strategy has several major flaws as well, and the lack of control over the process of using the revenues from transportation as the means to advance the state economy is the key one.

It would be naïve to expect that no money laundering will occur in the process; hence, a more elaborate supervision strategy must be designed. A specific system of reporting can be used as the basis for possible bias prevention.

Despite some of the bias related to the overly optimistic expectations, the success of the new transportation system due to its relation to the economic principles that the Australian private entrepreneurship is guided by is obvious.

The ostensible inconsistency with the standards that are traditionally applied to the assessment of the transportation efficacy in Europe and the USA does not seem to affect the success of the Australian infrastructure update.

More to the point, the changes applied to the Melbourne infrastructure open new opportunities for SMEs and major corporations’ evolution due to a stronger emphasis on the economic aspects of the solutions provided.

Works Cited

Australian Government. “Productivity Commission Inquiry Report Volume 1.” Commonwealth of Australia. 2014. Web.

Department of Transport, Planning and Local Transportation (Planning). “A More Connected Melbourne.” Plan Melbourne. Melbourne, AU: Department of Transportation. 81–109. Print.

Department of Treasury and Finance. Economic Evaluation for Business Cases Technical Guidelines. Melbourne, AU: Department of Treasury and Finance. 2013. Web.

Regan, Michael and Jim Smith. “Infrastructure Procurement: Learning from Private – Public Partnership Experiences Down Under’.” Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 29 (2011), 363–378. Print.

Hard infrastructure refers to the physical assets put up to support an economy and its enterprises. Transport network, energy production and distribution, telecommunications and water management are examples of hard infrastructure.

Soft infrastructure refers to both physical and non-physical assets that are used to provide the public with specialized services. Examples include cultural attitudes, legal system and financial system (Niskanen 233).

In terms of education and skilled labor Singapore has been able to set itself apart as an education hub in Asia (“Developing Asian Education Hubs”). Singapore has also consistently ranked in the top five in reading, science and mathematics globally.

The country’s top two universities are ranked in the top 50 worldwide. Every year about one million graduates leave Indian technical colleges. The country has one of the highest numbers of technically skilled graduates in the world (Nandakumar Para 4). Technical know-how has made both countries attractive to foreign interested in setting up shop.

The capital markets in India are ranked 17^th globally as regards their financial sophistication. The telecommunication sector is also the fastest growing in the world.

According to a 2010 report Singapore was the fourth largest financial centre in the world. Forex, derivatives, stocks and lending have all played a major role in the growth of Singapore as a financial hub (City of London 8). Singapore also has high telecommunications connectivity. And just like in India’s case this is a source of competitive advantage.

The Singapore Port is considered one of the most efficient and busiest in the world. On the other hand Mumbai, India’s largest port is marked by inefficiency. This is attributed to the poor transport network around the port plus poor operations management (“Mumbai Port Profile”).

In terms of governance infrastructure India has struggled with issues of corruption, terrorism and religious unrest. India has continued to rank poorly in the Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International.

Corruption increases bureaucracy, complicates taxes and makes it a challenging place to do business. Singapore has one of the lowest corruption levels in the world. Low corruption, political stability among other factors are why Singapore continues to top in the World Bank’s ranking of favorable places to do business. In the 2012 report India was ranked poorly at 132^nd (“Doing Business Rankings”).

Despite the issues discussed above, India has established itself as one of the BRIC Economies. This is a grouping of the major emerging economies in the world. However the country will have to tackle political, religious and social issues so that it’s soft and hard infrastructure can be as efficient and effective as Singapore’s. There is therefore need for increased and sustainable infrastructure investment in India.

Works Cited

City of London. Global Financial Centers. London: City of London, 2010. 8. Print.

“Developing Asian Education Hubs.” EAHEP, 2013. Web.

“Doing Business Rankings – World Bank Group.” Doing Business, 2013. Web.

“Mumbai Port Profile.” Mumbai Port, 2013. Web.

Nandakumar, Indu. “Number of tech graduates swells; salaries at IT firms stay stagnant.” The Economic Times. 24th November 2011. 2011. Web.

Niskanen, William A. “Soft Infrastructure of a Market Economy.” The Cato Journal., 11. (1991): 233. Print.

“Transparency Corruption Perception Index.”Transparency Intenational, 2013. Web.

During the pandemic, the number of people consuming snacks, particularly unhealthy snacks, has increased significantly. The most surprising information presented in the video by CNBC (2021c) is how fast the popularity of snacks in the diet of Americans is growing. In particular, it is noteworthy that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend, so people are expected to consume even more snacks in the future. An important insight demonstrated in the video is how important it is for companies to respond to current customer requests and demands. For example, the increase in revenue of large snack manufacturers coincided with a period of worldwide lockdown. However, after the end of the pandemic, people began to concern more about healthy eating, which pushed companies to provide more options for snacks. The lack of responsiveness on the part of companies in marketing and offering would likely result in a reduction in their revenues, but attention to current trends is the key to success.

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only significantly affected consumption patterns but has also transformed global financial infrastructures. CNBC (2021a) reports that Florida has the potential to become the nation’s largest financial and tech hub in the next few years. Most surprising in this regard is that this transition is influenced not only by favorable economic and tax conditions but also by living standards, in particular climate and social aspects. In this situation, the reporter also notes that this rise in Florida’s popularity is contrary to forecasts and expectations (CNBC, 2021a). Thus, as in the previous video, the need for attention to current trends and the fastest response to them by companies is emphasized. At the moment, organizations seeking to move their activities from New York to Florida are faced with a number of challenges that must be overcome in order to create the necessary structure. The further growth of the new economy in the state depends on how attentive they are to the existing trends that have arisen due to the shifts that occurred during the pandemic.

For giant companies with a long history and a well-established brand image, it is often difficult to make the necessary changes to maintain market positions. As demonstrated in a video by CNBC (2021d), even brands as recognizable as Coca-Cola need to innovate to retain customers and revenue. In particular, innovation is the most effective marketing strategy in today’s world, especially for brands with a long history. This is because modern consumers have changed needs due to transformed social and cultural conditions. Most importantly, global environmental concerns are on the rise, requiring companies to focus on sustainability. The video highlights the importance of companies taking bold, innovative steps to stay at the forefront of the competition. Not being able to implement changes in branding and production can cause a major decline in sales and revenues.

One example of how the inability to respond to changing consumer needs and interests can negatively impact a company is the gum manufacturer Wrigley. In a video by CNBC (2021b), the most surprising aspect is that even the acquisition of the company by the world’s largest candy manufacturer, Mars, did not save it from decline. The reason for this was the inability to innovate the brand. This video provides a useful insight that Wrigley, in the minds of consumers, is closely associated with chewing gum (CNBC, 2021b). However, in modern conditions, the demand for this product is rapidly declining. Thus, it is important for the company to diversify its products in time and be able to offer consumers options according to changing consumer interests, as snack manufacturers did, as illustrated in the first video by CNBC (2021c). Thus, for the successful functioning of companies, it is important to take into account the possibility of transformations in consumer patterns.

References

CNBC. (2021a). Can Florida become the next big tech and finance hub? [Video]. YouTube.

CNBC. (2021b). How Wrigley’s dominated the world of chewing gum [Video]. YouTube.

CNBC. (2021c). Why Americans are eating so many snacks [Video]. YouTube.

CNBC. (2021d). Why Coca-Cola still dominates the beverage market [Video]. YouTube.

Introduction

The construction of a stadium should be done after carrying out cost-benefit analysis of subject of a project. This paper will discuss the cost-benefit of the Emirates Stadium that was estimated to cost £390 million and create over 1800 work places (Arsenal.com 1). Analyst had examined the impact of such a stadium on economic growth, job creation, increasing income tax revenues, growth of sports and other benefits. However, this will be done by relating to a comparison of the growth rates in other regions without a stadium like the Emirates. The presence of Arsenal football club has had significant impact upon the growth in per capita income on the neighborhood.

New Emirates stadium

The new look of the Emirates Stadium will cost £390 million thereby creating 1800 jobs and enabling the constructions of 2000 homes. The stadium will have direct employment of 1000 workers during the construction and after completion; it will have a capacity of 60,000 people.

Costs benefit analysis

The construction of the Emirates Stadium will have a great benefit in terms of revenue to the club and society. Quantifiable benefits of the stadium will depend on performance of the Arsenal club in the premier league. This analysis has assumed three scenarios, low attendance, medium attendance and high attendance. Each has been assigned probability of occurrence to enable scenario analysis. The excel file has details how the net present value has been arrived at. The data in the excel file concerning the stadium is beneficial because it has net present value of £1,396,617

Qualitative benefit of emirates stadium

Constructing of the Emirates Stadium has economic benefits of such developments. Profits related to the building of the stadium have now become close to and synonymous with the advantages associated with having a football match with Arsenal. The costs depend on not provision of the public funds for a new stadium but threats of losing the right to host the matches of the team to other places. It is known that the main premier league has a large number of franchises because of which there is intense competition amongst large cities that can support professional matches. For this reason, owners of the team can always threaten to shift to another city, probably to the one that is ready to finance a stadium publicly. Leagues have now started demanding that cities that want expansion teams should provide new franchises with a stadium (Rich 27).

Increasing costs in terms of player free agency and the alterations in the tax codes have made team owners to search for the ways to enhance their revenue to be able to keep up with the returns on their investments on the team franchise. An effective means to get revenue is to put up money in grand magnificent stadium with facilities of elaborate concession and luxury boxes. Team owners share the cash collections and outcome emanating from television broadcasting while other revenue from advertising, parking, concessions and luxury boxes enhance profit of the team. Metropolitan areas had grown significantly during the last three decades; this has resulted in the creation of a number of new metro regions that are big enough to support teams for limited or slow growth in the number of professional franchise opportunities. As the demand for teams exceeds the supply, team owners have been able to gain immense bargaining influence from the plausible threats of moving their franchise to upcoming and growing metro regions. Team owners now have the influence to enhance their earnings by taking part in the sharing of expenses on new stadiums.

Stadiums are mostly constructed with combined private and public participation. Municipal corporations generate funds by issuing bonds that increase in value in the coming future, imposing property taxes on redevelopment agencies, implementing temporary room prices and generating overall fund revenues through different varieties of taxes. Redevelopment agencies usually make use of future property tax collections in serving as collateral against the bonds that they issue. In developing new projects, agencies can generate added property tax revenues. In some circumstances, the redevelopment agencies can tap the additional financing and utilize them in serving as collateral to issue bonds to fund the development of sports infrastructures. Such financing is also termed increment funding, whereby future revenue is used in building projects that are expected to create the same streams of revenue. Over and above the special taxes that are collected to provide for the repayment of bonds issued for stadiums projects, the state can also make use of general funds outcomes in paying back against bonds. The general fund of the government is generated through different varieties of taxes that can be utilized at its own discretion. This is referred to as discretionary spending whereby the general funds are the typical sources of financing for most of the government services (Baim 53).

The advantages of building new stadiums through public funding can be recognized from two perspectives, the quality of life benefits and the economic development advantages. The progress of economic development can be measured in terms of changes in the economic results such as incomes, jobs and profits. Benefits relating to quality of life can be considered in terms of intangible social advantages that affect the way the community looks at itself, the pattern according to which its members behave and the contentment derived by them.

Economic benefits primarily relate to profits derived by owners of the franchise because they save a lot of money when they are not required to fund the entire costs of the new stadium. Experience has shown that the income of individual sports franchises are increased by amounts that range from £10 to £49 million for every new stadium that is established. The new sports facilities will create new jobs and enhanced incomes. Extra work places will be created in constructing and operating the stadium after it is completed and in other related businesses. There will be a growth in the number of restaurants and hotels that starts operating from the vicinity of the stadium. In the other hand, those that already exist will have a significant increase in the stream of customers that visit them. Personal income levels of the community will also grow with the increase in the number of available jobs. Tax revenues in terms of sales tax and income charge collections will shoot up because of the enhanced spending patterns near the stadium and high personal incomes.

A major reason for the improving of the quality of life will be the consumer surplus arising due to increased attendance of the sporting events. In this context, consumer surplus is defined as the difference between what a spectator is willing to pay for a place in the stadium and the kind of satisfaction and utility that he or she derives from the same. Although measuring the consumer surplus is a difficult task, it is a significantly big advantage to consider the effectiveness of different parameters. The local sports franchise can provide benefits for sports fans that have not attended a single game. Such fans can follow the footsteps of the franchisee on platforms of the media, for example, and discuss them with colleagues, relatives and friends. The local sports clubs create a strong sense of civic pride by prominently putting the city on the sporting map and cities that have sport franchises are viewed as world class and major cities (Rich 26).

The tangible and intangible advantages associated with professional sports stadiums are usually accompanied with both economic costs and quality of life costs. There is an opportunity cost of public pounds because in spending public money on stadiums, the government has to forego expenses that can be made in other areas of social utilities and government services. The evaluation of public investments on sports stadiums is done on the same basis as it is done for other public projects. The biggest issue in this regard concerns whether the returns on investments made on sports stadiums are more than the outcomes of the same inputs made in other areas, including measures to reduce taxes.

Since families and individuals have to allocate their relatively fixed entertainment budgets amongst different means of entertainment, a larger spending at new stadiums will imply low levels of spending on other modes of entertainment, such as museums, amusement parks, etc. Thus, people that are used to attend games in stadiums can stop spending on other entertainment activities, thus creating a loss for these sectors. People who live in cities that have a professional sports franchise will be in an advantageous position by being in close proximity to the stadium. Moreover, they will be thus ready to accept lower incomes on account of living closer to the football club’s location. For instance, a college graduate could be ready to work at a lower salary in a center that has a professional sports franchise as compared to a city that does not have a sports club.

Most franchises and local commercial associations deploy professional consulting companies to ascertain the economic benefits that will accrue to a particular city or metropolitan area. Such studies are able to ascertain the concrete benefits resulting from building stadiums by way of the number of jobs that will be created and the amount of growth in tax revenues that will result from the construction and operation of the developed stadium. Because of the recent patterns of increase in government subsidies for sport stadiums, a number of autonomous, academic economists have started researching the impact on economic development. The research material that is available in this regard is clearly indicative of the fact that there are not much economic benefits and growth from the development of professional sports franchises and stadiums. Some areas of experiential economic studies have offered the same conclusions although autonomous efforts in researching the economic effects of arenas and stadiums have consistently concluded that there is no significant statistical relationship amongst the construction of sports facilities and economic growth.

The money invested in sports stadiums is quite substantial in view of the combined contribution of revenues by the industry to the economy. Economists hold that sports stadiums generate substantial tax revenues from the sale of services that they provide. But the biggest question pertains to whether the outcomes they generate exceed over and above what could have been generated if the same amounts would have been invested in other sectors of the same region. In addressing such questions, the proposals of using taxpayer’s money are regularly made to undergo economic impact studies. A number of assumptions are made in such studies regarding the income that will be probably generated and the number of jobs that will result from the new projects. However, in most cases, these data cannot be substantiated and explained by economic theory. Moreover, the values of the subsidies received by the teams when the city incurs the bills for new stadiums mostly reveal high team resale prices that eventually end up in the pockets of clubs’ owners (Baim 56).

Some analysts argue that money that is spent on stadiums should be diverted for use in better ways. For example, the large amounts can be used in giving tax incentives to local small businesses in the region in question. The money could be also used by cities to attract larger number of different industries. Such ideas can result in the creation of a larger number of jobs and the benefits in this case will influence the life of the local population and remain within the community for several years. However, at the same time, it is a difficult job getting the public to reconcile in allowing their local teams to lose. There have been examples of cities that did not initially invest in stadiums but because of the strong emotions connected with sporting events, authorities had to yield to the public demand and build stadiums at much higher costs than what they would have incurred if they were built earlier. Most people love sports, and professional sporting events are a great means of entertainment in addition to encouraging civic pride for residents. However, things have to be kept in perspective, and in establishing a stadium, several parameters should be considered by the civic authorities to make the development a viable and satisfying venture (Baade 105).

The strongest argument as to why public funds should be used to construct stadiums is that the community values the teams that thrive in cities and hence they have a basis in rewarding them. Sporting teams need new stadiums, and the owners do not have sufficient capital to build them. They run teams that have lot of fans who love to attend games if the matches are played in new environments. Additionally, a new stadium implies that it will be a better place to play games and may eventually become a strong reason for more talented players to join the teams in the future. The financial burden of the stadium cannot be borne by the owners alone, and hence some other entities have to maintain the place at least until the adverse impacts start to work. Even if the new stadium is constructed, there is no assurance that more fans will be attracted to the games nor is there any guarantee that the teams will become more competent.

Sports such as premier league are big businesses, and if fans do not perceive them, they often end up in being disappointed every time they go to the stadium. They enjoy the games and the competition at so many different levels. Eventually, there are more gains in stadiums being built with public funding although a number of things ought to change. There must be a salary cap imposed on all sporting events in order to enable smaller market teams to remain within the competitive environment. Otherwise, small teams will be deprived of the opportunity to promote their level of the game. Mostly, it appears that everything is balanced but at the end of the day, it figures out that smaller teams are distinctly separated from the larger ones. In such an environment, it becomes difficult for smaller market clubs to survive the competition. The public should foot the bills for stadiums after teams are given adequate options by way of a referendum whether the stadium should be built. If the referendum goes through, players should have some stake in the earnings since they need to become a larger part of the community and to have a sense of giving to the community that pays their salaries. If players are concerned only about the money that they earn, the team eventually suffers in the long term, and the same is true for franchises and their owners. They must reveal to the community that they eventually work towards the public interests and should not engage in threats about shifting elsewhere if they do not get immediate rewards in the short term (Kern, 28).

Conclusion

Public funding of the new Emirate stadiums should be done only when the public is assured of getting back in return what they seek for, namely, entertainment, enjoyment and a sense of pride, which are more important than huge economic benefits alone. If a team eventually performs and behaves in a manner that allows the market forces to gain a lot of money automatically pumped into the city’s economy, the public funding of the stadium will prove to be a good venture. It should never be done if the owners of the team start diverting all the money into their own pockets. Sometimes, people do not keep track of the factors that make playing of such games great, and in such circumstances, it is the duty of all sporting fans to hold the teams accountable for such outcomes. It is also required to ensure that franchises put up collaterals at the same time as the public. Essentially, public funding of stadiums should be done only if the public is adequately compensated for the same in terms of satisfaction and entertainment.

Works Cited

Arsenal.com. Emirates stadium-key facts. Arsenal.com. 2011. Web.

Baade Richard. Professional Sports as Catalysts for Metropolitan Economic Development. Journal of Urban Affairs, 18.2 (2005): 1-18. Print.

Baim, Dean. The Sports Stadium as a Municipal Investment. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2003. Print.

Kern, William. The Economics of Sport. New York: W. E. Upjohn Institute, 2000. Print.

Rich, Wilbur. The Economics and Politics of Sports Facilities. New York: Praeger, 2000. Print.