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Archive for the ‘Management’ Category

Strategic management is concerned with measures that organizations take to work around the opportunities, pressures, alterations, and challenges in varying economic trends.

Strategic management is a continuing process of putting together strategies that brings profit to the organization as well as creates a harmony between the organization and its environment. It lists the strengths that the organization already possess for the achievement of its objectives; weaknesses that hinder the achievement of goals; opportunities and markets that can be exploited in favor; and threats that are at hand in the external as well as internal environment: in short this is called a SWOT analysis. Strategic management is a level of managerial activity under setting goals and implementing the plans so as to achieve it.

Like mentioned before, strategic management can and will influence the organization’s performance during economic crisis. The following are the ways by which Strategic Management will be helpful in economic crisis:

1.  Mission, goals and strategies:

Mission defines the organization’s purpose, their reason for being in business. It is also important to identify goals, because they are the foundation of planning and give managers a way to measure the performance their success. Finally, a manager needs to know the organizations strategies, to evaluate them and make the necessary changes.

2.  External Analysis:

Strategic Management here is carried out as per the economic crisis. A study of all the aspects related to economic crisis must be done as it acts as a base for the managers to take the next step.

The manager must know all the environmental changes that are taking place so he can adapt to it accordingly.

3.  Internal Analysis:

The manager has to go through SWOT analysis. It includes an analysis related to the organization’s resources, capabilities, and spot the strengths and weaknesses in order to improve his decisions.

4.  Formulate Strategies:

The managers can now formulate various corporate, business and functional strategies.

5.  Implement Strategies:

The next step after formulation of strategies is to implement them. The plan that is made must be executed.

6.  Evaluate the output:

All the efforts that are taken to implement the strategies will go in vain if the results are not evaluated. The results must be constantly evaluated to improve and to sustain in economic crisis.

Strategic management comprises of various approaches that can be put into action to survive in a financial predicament. A manager may go for trimming down manpower, increasing the line of credit by means of banks, offer discounts for early receivables, and compete on quality, cutting costs, and a whole lot more. Thus the importance of strategic management has to do with the persistently changing situations that organizations face in these times, because it helps the management to scrutinize relevant factors before they actually decide which course of action to take, thus helping them to better cope with uncertain environments like an economic crisis.

The Catering Business is a profitable and lucrative business to be in. A catering business can help enhance your income in a very significant manner. The initial phase of this business involves a fair bit of investment, with returns not being very promising in this stage. However, it evens out eventually as profits rise and you eventually break even much quicker than most businesses; keeping in mind economic trends and the economy, few lines of business are more attractive.

It is not only an appealing trade but also a demanding one. You should fulfill the customers’ expectations concerning their catered events regardless of whether it is a small party for children or person’s breakfast in bed or candlelight dinners or a big party for persons that number in fifty and above at a wedding reception. It doesn’t matter if your business is on a full-time or part-time basis; your commitment to the business is what matters the most. Commitment is important because, in this business just like most others; the work hours are not always fixed and one must be able to work under stress. Another important skill required by a business owner her is social skills. Social skills take you a long way because it’s a lot easier to create and improve relationships in business as well in other aspects of life if you focus on the other person than on yourself. This definitely adds to your standing and your reputation and we all know that when it comes to business, reputation is everything.

Omnipresent Demand for Catering

Year after year the requirement for people in the catering trade is climbing. Social Catering is one of the quickest rising sectors in the Restaurant business. If you have a good chef with you then you can rent the catering equipments and appoint some people to join you in daily payment business initially. Later you can have a stable catering set-up including a crew and the equipment for your business.

When you are in the catering business,the most crucial thing is to plan the business strategy cautiously. Attracting clients is also an significant part of this trade. You can attract customers through the classified ads or through your own associates’ friends and others. First of all you should learn the ways to be humble with your customers. By being modest you may get many more orders through that client. After that you should listen the client’s requirements very carefully. Now you have to organize a little more than the requirement of your customer. Sometimes the event catering includes orders for the breakfast, lunch and dinner – all three meals. These types of events are most profitable to the caterer. So utmost care must be taken when working on the same.

The amplified requirement for the catering trade in the global market is driven by the growing number of high income households, number of weddings and bigger corporate events with companies, corporations, NGOs, etc. Businesses of all sizes are using catered lunches, cocktail parties and dinner meetings to build their reputations and augment company sales. It is a matter of keeping pace with the rivalry in promoting a service, company and a product.

Current standard of living has also given way to greater than before demand for catered food services. Instead of toiling for hours or days even, in the kitchen getting ready for parties or events, many people simply opt for a caterer to provide splendid and memorable banquets for their visitors. A growing figure of working moms are paying to have catered birthday and graduation parties, as well as wedding receptions taken care of by caterers. The causes are simple: if she holds a job outside the home, today’s mother just does not have the time or the oomph to do all the preparation and staging of an unforgettable party..
Income Prospective:

The income prospective of catering depends on the size of the events that you cater to. Like any new business, though, catering necessitates outstanding organization and managerial skills for the business to accomplish something. Your capacity to keep your operating costs low while continuing to uphold a a service of phenomenal quality is most essential.

Major stock indexes rose again to record two years on Wednesday, when a report showed the U.S. economy grew faster than expected in the summer.

Department of Commerce said the country’s GDP rose by an annual rate of 2.6 percent in July-September, a slight increase in its previous estimate was 2.5 percent.

“Some folks will look at 2.6 percent as a disappointment, but the market is taking a look at the bigger picture,” said Phil Orlando, the chief stock market strategist at Federated Investors. Many traders expect the economy to grow by 3 percent or more during the fourth quarter and through 2011, he said.

Separately, the National Association of Realtors said sales of previously occupied homes rose 5.6 percent in November to an annual rate of 4.68 million. That was slightly below analysts’ estimates of 4.75 million, according to data provided by FactSet.

“There is some mixed news out there,” said Jeffrey Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial, pointing to quarterly results from Nike Inc. – one barometer of consumer spending – as raising a flag that there are some concerns that “companies may miss some estimates, and that earnings growth is slowing.”

“Maybe the markets are getting ahead of themselves even though there are a lot of good reasons why stocks should be going up,” said Kleintop.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 26.33 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 11,559.49. The S&P 500 index rose 4.24, or 0.3 percent, to 1,258.84. Both indexes closed at their highest levels since July 2008.

The Nasdaq composite index gained 3.87, or 0.2 percent, to 2,671.48. It was the highest close for the Nasdaq since Dec. 28, 2007.

Trading was light ahead of the Christmas holiday on Friday. Rising stocks outnumbered falling ones by 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume was 3.6 billion shares.

Of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow index, 22 rose. Bank of America Corp. led the way, gaining 3.1 percent to $13.38. Palo Alto’s Hewlett-Packard had the largest fall. The stock dropped 1 percent to $41.48.

Before the market opened, Walgreens reported revenue and earnings that beat analyst estimates. The country’s largest drugstore chain said its income rose 18.8 percent. The stock rose 5.5 percent to $38.85.

Late Tuesday, Nike Inc. said it planned to raise some of its prices because of higher costs for cotton and shipping. Revenue and earnings per share were better than analysts had forecast. Nike fell 5.3 percent to $86.95.

December promises to be a good month positions. S&P 500 has risen 6.6 percent this month and the Dow has received a 5 per cent. On Tuesday, the S & P 500 closed above it reached in September 1912, 2008, the last trading day before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a culmination of the financial crisis

The market economy with socialist orientation in Vietnam has worked as much as the market mechanism and administrative policy.

In early 2010, when the world economy was still correct to return to Vietnam a part of the National Assembly and the government to develop solutions that help improve the economy of the late world economy.

Methods included tightening public expenditure, implementing a stimulus package, increasing exports, encouraging domestic consumption, and improving social welfare, which helped stabilize the country’s socio-economy.

Over the past year, the prices of gold and foreign currency have seen fluctuations due to not only the world’s law of supply and demand but also speculation and rumours in the domestic market.

To deal with the problems, the State bank of Vietnam (SBV) introduced effective policies to clean up the gold trading market by allowing gold import, reducing gold import taxes, adjusting exchange rates, and publicizing the national foreign exchange reserve. These policies helped reduce the gold price instability and stabilize the price of foreign currency.

At the end of the year, while the Government is making every effort to curb inflation, many commercial banks joined a race to increase interest rates, creating a more complicated situation in the banking sector.

In response to the banks’ decisions, the Government and SBV imposed administrative measures to control the race. The Ministry of Finance and Industry and the Ministry of Industry and Trade also took the initiative to control prices by deciding not to raise prices of coal, electricity, petrol and oil until the Lunar New Year Festival.

Over 2010 many lessons were learned from the management of the socialist-oriented market economy.

Firstly, the socialist-oriented market economy offers an option for the Government to use policy to intervene in specific economic issues, making the economy more transparent, in accordance with the law of supply and demand. All experts and strategists need to do is to analyse the situation and propose effective measures to the Government.

Secondly, as important social and political events are about to take place in Vietnam and the Lunar New Year Festival is drawing near. Vietnam needs to be more active in stabilizing prices and introducing administrative measures to prevent price fever.

Thirdly, the Government should keep a close watch on the market to introduce proper policies. For example, the price-stabilising fund should be used to help businesses reserve commodities to meet consumer demand in both urban and rural areas.

Fourthly, the market management policies should be transparent and consistent to enhance social unanimity.

Lastly, Vietnam should uphold the active role of mass media to help stabilize the market by providing information and analyzing the market situation, as well as pointing out the deception of those who want to play on the market. This will also help minimize the negative impact on the market created by the mass media.

Despite being affected by global economic crisis and debt crisis of Europe, Vietnam will see significant economic growth in 2010 with foreign investment remains high. These achievements are attributable to the effective management of the state of the economy based on the law of the market.

John Key government can take more responsibility for the deteriorating fiscal situation and a great responsibility for the deteriorating economic situation, the Green Party co-leader Dr. Russel Norman said today.

Dr Norman said the release of half of Economic and Fiscal Update, the Ministry of Finance, which showed the economic recovery unstable and New Zealand.

“The worsening outlook for the Government’s budget is a result of some poor decisions on both the revenue and spending side,” said Dr Norman.

“On the revenue side, the Government’s tax cuts directed towards upper-income earners and the lack of a capital gains tax (excluding the family home) has led to a revenue shortfall.”

“On the spending side, the Government’s poor quality spending on uneconomic new motorways and ETS subsidies for polluters has also had a negative impact on the books.

“We are literally now borrowing money to pay for tax cuts for the well-off and motorway projects with negative economic returns.”

Dr Norman also questioned the quality of the Government’s economic stimulus measures that have failed to revive a fragile economy.

“Tax cuts directed towards upper-income earners are one of the poorest ways to stimulate a failing economy. Increasing aid to the unemployed has a stimulus impact two-to-three times greater than nearly any other measure the Government could have chosen,” said Dr Norman.”

“And it would have worked to mitigate the worst impacts of the recession on those most vulnerable to it.

“The Government’s approach to economic management during one of the most turbulent periods of recent history has failed all but the wealthiest of us.”

“A smarter way to manage the improbability would have been to use the crisis as an occasion to change the economy onto a more sustainable and flexible grip. Instead, we have the old economy, dependent on cheap oil to drive, to pay polluters to let the aid of carbon, and to borrow to finance tax cuts, which do not stimulate the economy.”

If all schools have to worry about these days was the establishment of common standards for curriculum and agree on how to measure student progress and teacher effectiveness, our national image education will be completely rosy.

But the growing social problems, which are more demanding of students and the shortage of school social workers – usually the only resource dedicated to helping student’s personal concerns – and you’re looking at another major, but rarely noticed, the issue of education.

The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights just issued complete guidelines descriptive the liability of educational institutions in the prevention of discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, color, sexual orientation or disability.

That action, itself a result of several high-profile bullying-related suicides, spurred New Jersey to provide suicide prevention courses for students and make school districts codify a comprehensive policy on anti-bullying and harassment.

In Illinois, the governor is considering legislation to reduce child sexual abuse that would establish age-appropriate instruction for public school students in kindergarten through fifth grade and training for school workers on identifying and dealing with abused youngsters.

These topics are being programmed into the classroom because they, along with direct instruction on sexual health, emotional balance and social behavior — lessons that teachers a generation ago would have expected students to learn at home — have landed on the doorstep of public schools.

Teachers who never imagined having to address the multifaceted issues of sexuality, suicide or bullying are ever more leaning on school social workers who are already stretched to their limits.

The latest U.S. Department of Health and Human Service report on the topic found that one in five children and adolescents will experience during their school years a significant mental health problem such as stress, anxiety, bullying, family problems, depression, learning disabilities or alcohol and substance abuse.

Serious mental health problems such as self-injurious behaviors and suicide attempts are on the rise. A Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report in 2005 found that nearly 60 percent of adolescents ages 12 to 17 who reported a major depressive episode didn’t receive any treatment. And of the kids who did look for help, two-thirds received that help only in school.

Other studies have shown that in many states, school social workers are the major providers of mental health services to children and in some cases, such as rural or inner city areas, schools are the only mental health service provider in the community.

Yet only about 5 percent of the nation’s approximately half-million social workers work in public schools, according to the National Association of Social Workers. That organization recently went before a congressional committee to brief legislators on the need for additional federal and state investments to overcome the challenges of recruiting, educating and keeping social workers.

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projections, at least 100,000 more social workers will be needed by 2018 just to keep pace with the volume of social needs in communities.

The evidence so far is only anecdotal, but states all over the country are facing hard decisions to cut programs. College and career guidance counselors, testing and special education-focused school psychologists, and social workers are at high risk because their roles tend not to be widely understood in communities.

Cross your fingers that school social workers across the country will survive reduced budgets and continue to help students and teachers navigate these perilous times we’re all living through.

LONDON (Dow Jones) — Amadeus Capital Partners and Alliances Northzone said Wednesday it has sold Swedish web management EPiServer to IK Investment Partners.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. However, the agreement is likely to have been worth 600 million kroner (60 million) and SEK650 ($ 65 million) based on the price of an IPO that had been laid off due to the volatility the markets in June, a person familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires.

EPiServer provides web content management and hosting facilities across a broad range of products and its effective and high quality technology has made it a favorite among businesses worldwide.

Used by customers ranging from British Gas and Absolut Vodka in Europe to U.S. Bancorp Inc. (TBBK) and Bike India, the company has more than trebled revenue since London-based Amadeus and Nordic venture capitalist Northzone first invested in 2007.

“Europe has always produced excellent technology, but we do not always do so well in large enterprises” said Peter Larsson, President of EPiServer.

“EPiServer is a company that has managed to build an international position of the market … and now we are becoming a global force in the construction companies’ online presence” he added in his statement.

Social Bookmarking websites are principally the sites that store and categorize ‘bookmark links’ for a specific website with specific tags. Most of the people go to social bookmarking web-sites and search for a specific information. The main idea about social bookmarking is to put the links that land on your web-site on those social bookmarking sites. Afterwards, you specify the tags which will be categorizing your web-site.

Some Bookmarking software is designed for making social bookmarking easier and more effective. In general, social bookmarking is too time consuming and tedious. Bookmarking Software solves those two problems and helps you to increase adsense income, product sales and affiliate commissions. The price for the software is the lowest on the market. Bookmarking Software also does not require any monthly fees and the updates are free of charge.

One of the users of the Bookmarking software, Jeffery, says: “automatic social bookmarking software have a powerful randomization system that helps to randomize all descriptions and incoming anchored links and even set the customization level. This beat the crap out of those expensive social bookmarking submission services. The ability to add my own scuttle social bookmarking list is a bonus.

The public is fuming that the economy still isn’t emergent fast enough to create any substantial number of jobs, in next month’s election; the Republicans are expected to take control of the House (and possibly the Senate)

No matter who is elected in November, the economy is preordained to a slow, agonizing, relatively jobless recovery. Their political victory isn’t likely to translate into any noticeable improvement in the economy any time soon, however.

It’ll take years before the unemployment rate drops to an acceptable level, years before the banking system is fully functioning, and years before the crippled housing market returns to health.

That’s not to say that the right government policies couldn’t make a big difference, it’s just that nothing the Republicans have proposed would help much, even if they could enact their economic platform on their first day in office.

And that’s not going to happen. President Obama still has the power of the veto. The more likely outcome of the election will be further gridlock, with neither party able to change public policy at will. That’ll mean more uncertainty, not less.

Given their built-in advantages this year, Republican candidates have been understandably vague about their plans to change economic policy. Many Republican candidates have endorsed John Boehner’s “Pledge to America,” which is full of lofty principles but short on policy details. Read more about the pledge.

Big government’s fault

Inspired by the tea party, the Republicans are pledging to become fiscal conservatives again, to limit the size of government, and to reduce taxes and red tape. In the Republican view, there’s nothing wrong with the economy that isn’t the fault of big government.

However, many of the Republican proposals would actually hurt — not help — the economy if they could be enacted.

Slashing government spending right now would be crippling to an economy that doesn’t have any other source of demand. Keeping taxes low for the richest Americans wouldn’t create many jobs, and would keep the deficits growing. The Republicans’ pledge to repeal the new health-care law and other government regulations would only add to the uncertainty that businesses say is keeping them on the sidelines.

The Republicans say they want to reduce government spending, but they are vague about exactly what should be cut, except to say that discretionary, non-defense spending should be rolled back to pre-recession levels. That category includes only about 15% of all federal spending, and isn’t the part of the budget that’s the problem.

If the deficit is an ocean-sized problem, the Republicans have proposed a solution that would fit in a thimble.

Being vague is probably good politics. A recent poll by Bloomberg News shows that 55% of likely voters agree that the deficit is out of control, but most voters are against specific measures to reduce it, especially the big changes that would be needed to bring the budget into balance.

It turns out that we like the things government does for us, and we also don’t want to pay the taxes necessary to buy those things.

California Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina wouldn’t name a single program, or identify any entitlement program that should be scaled back when asked repeatedly by Chris Wallace of Fox News what she’d like to cut from the government. Instead, Fiorina leaned on that old standby of political hacks: “waste, fraud and inefficiency.”

Web Economy will change its face, as Computers will do a lot of the time-consuming work that people still do today, because  Information in a Web 3.0 world will be much easier to access.

It’s like saying “the economy needs jobs”—100 percent correct, but 99 percent useless as a guide to what we should do next. Our political and business leaders talk a lot about innovation being our economic savior, but what can we do with such platitudes? Where will we find long-term solutions to the problems of the economy?

I’m up to the innovation challenge. I’m just a small entrepreneur, but the technology I work in offers some real and specific opportunities for economic improvement. It’s broadly called Web 3.0, or the Semantic Web, and it’s the next generation of the Internet. Each of the earlier Web generations was pretty transformative, and this next version will be too.

Web 3.0 is a smarter Web, giving computers better ways to share information. This has enormous benefits for people who need to search for information, automate processes and transactions, and make logical connections between similar concepts and things. Information in a Web 3.0 world will be much easier to access, because computers will do a lot of the time-consuming work that people still do today.

Here are specific suggestions for ways that Web 3.0 innovation can have a positive effect on the economy:

1. In health care reform, Web 3.0 is an ideal technology for creating electronic medical records (EMRs), by merging the personal information that exists in disparate databases all over the health care system.

2. Data.gov is a comprehensive database of government information from a vast array of sources, all powered by semantic, Web 3.0 technologies. This transparency provides incentives for reducing government waste and improving the accountability of government agencies, procurement processes and contract awards.

3. In biotechnology, Web 3.0 provides tools that cut years of research down to days. New information is incorporated into the R&D process, drawing connections between related concepts and visualizing the results in graphs of merged information. Seeing these connections enables researchers to make better predictions about the spread of diseases, calculate a patient’s response to treatments and assess the risk of drug side effects.

4. In the financial sector, money will be saved through advanced fraud monitoring systems that are made possible through the real-time linking of financial accounts, transaction data and customer information. This can scale globally, so regulators and analysts can understand the risks of portfolio structures and counterparty transactions, preventing future financial crises.

5. Sustainability decisions need the right information quickly, and that information must be based on science and fact. One Web 3.0 solution links a pesticide database to a database of organisms and one of weather patterns, to fully understand the balance of positive and negative consequences of our environmental choices.

6. Open Energy Information (OpenEI) is a collaboration designed to share energy data, tools, models and knowledge. Web 3.0 technologies are used to share energy- related information and accelerate innovation, development and deployment of clean energy systems.

7. The Open Floor Plan Display/Exchange project is using Web 3.0 to provide interactive real-time data about building plans that will be used by emergency services, law enforcement and risk analysts to improve building safety.

8. Personal data lockers will form an identity ecosystem based on Web 3.0. You will be able to configure who gets access to your locker and in what context, depending on your role, intent and location. Applications will understand the relationships between people, services and objects.

9. Web 3.0 will deliver better customer experience because service providers will understand what the customer needs in real time and will take the optimal action. The results will include massive time savings, better customer retention, more effective up-selling and improvements in satisfaction. In summary, Web 3.0 represents a Web in which information is much better linked and more efficiently utilized, with the economy continuing to benefit on a greater scale.