THIS IS AMAZAING!!!

I came across a very interesting site that I think everyone will appreciate. I sure do!!! Did you ever want to access your computer files that are on your hard drive from other computers or even your phone anywhere in the world??? Well, GOOD NEWS! Now you can and the best thing about it is that it’s free! It’s so simple and so useful. This site is amazing. You can view your pictures, see your movies, hear all your music, read all your documents, and so much more from anywhere in the world. You can now take your computer anywhere in the world without physically taking it with you! All you have to do is go on the website and download the software on your computer. If you have Internet access anywhere in the world then you have access to all your files anywhere in the world. It is that easy. I love this program. I have a PDA and I have access to all my computer files right on my phone. Today I felt like watching a movie, but was away from a TV. So, what exactly did I do? I simply logged on the website on my phone and accessed all my movies that were on my hard drive right on my phone. I still can’t get over it. OK, I am pretty sure you want to know the website by now, so here it is……….by the way…j/k…..the website is http://www.orb.com/

“Creating a Global Product”

The film “Creating a Global Product” illustrates how British Petroleum became an extremely successful conglomerate by merging with companies: Amoco, Castrol, and Aral. This tactic of merging with other companies, which was a wise move-in my opinion-by BP managers, is extremely common when international markets in other regions are unknown. Amoco and Castrol are well recognized in the United States, which Americans trust in consuming. Thus, allowing British Petroleum to penetrate the U.S market by using brands that are already well known. British Petroleum also successfully penetrated the Germany market by utilizing the well known brand Castrol and Aral. It’s evident that by merging with these companies BP was able to be successful and adapt to other foreign countries with out investing large amounts of money on in-depth market research and marketing an unknown brand in a foreign market, despite the quality and objective of BP. Companies’ that merge with other companies in order to tap into the foreign market and don’t take the initiative to re brand and develop values usually are unsuccessful because of the differences in culture and political and social uncertainties that come with going international.

However, I found it very interesting that after the merger BP took the initiative to re-brand and develop a foundation of values including performance, progressive, innovation, and green, which later led them to be accepted globally. By encouraging new ideas from employees of all the different companies, BP new how important it was to accept the insights of those already familiar with market. Every time I see a BP commercial it makes me want to buy its stock and invest in the company. You might ask, why? BP’s objective is to provide cleaner fuels in a world where a cleaner environment is becoming more and more of a concern, especially for the younger generation. That’s where the green aspect of their main values comes into play. British Petroleum has dominated the market because of its approach and its strategic international tactics and policies.

Lead, lag, or match the market?

The market is at a constant change, while most employers analyze their pay strategies once or twice a year. So how exactly do employers deal with this very important issue? Employers have to establish a pay policy. A pay policy’s main purpose is to illustrate in detail how an organization intends to react to the expected market changes and pressures. An organization has three pay policies that can be implemented to deal with expected market changes, which include: whether to lead, match, or lag the market.

When a company chooses to lead the market, the pay level should be above the market at the beginning of the year and equal to the market ant the end of the year. Leading the market usually results in the retention and/or attraction of top candidates for the specific position offered or/and secured. The match policy puts the pay level above the market for the first half of the year and below the market level during the second half of the year. The lag pay policy puts the pay level below the market all year round. Employers might have to take the lag approach because they simply cannot afford to pay above or match the market; might be able to pay below the market due to an abundance of labor; or, they are willing to tolerate the cost of paying below the market. The process of originally establishing pay levels involves balancing internal equity; what the job is worth to the organization; and, the external competitiveness of an organization’s pay compared to the pay of other organization in the same industry. In my opinion, I never realized how much emphases and analysis on pay strategies and structures was needed in order to make an organization succeed. Now that I think about it, pay is probably the highest operating cost of an organization.

Helpful websites for entrepreneurs/business owners

Marketing Basics

http://marketing.about.com/ is an excellent website that provides individuals with great tips on how to approach marketing when you are on a strict budget. The websites focuses on Blog marketing, provides an individual with a step by step brand strategy guide, a cold call success formula, and a formula to help you with your marketing efforts.

http://www.marketingprofs.com/marketing/library/articles is a wonderful site for those who are more advanced in marketing. This site gives an individual access to thousands of marketing resources. These resources are mainly marketing articles that give an individual many different proven marketing strategies. The site also allows one to choose from numerous marketing topics; for example, brand mgt, email marketing, general marketing, market research, non-profit, pricing, public relations, etc.

http://www.businesstown.com/marketing/index.asp is a fantastic website that allows one to learn new marketing strategies. The topics that are covered are basic marketing; direct mail; internet marketing; marketing plans; marketing strategy; publicity; trade shows; and, distribution. For each topic, the website provides an individual with additional vital information and also provides the individual with additional web marketing resources.

Risk MGT

http://www.rmahq.org/RMA/ is a site that is ran by the Risk Management Association (RMA) and focuses on making its members “identify, asses, and manage the impacts of credit risk, operational risk, and market risk on their business and customers. In order to be a member all that is needed is a valid email address.

http://www.rma.usda.gov/aboutrma/ is a website that was produced by the government in order to help “producers manage their business risks through effective, market based risk management solutions.

THE FEDERAL RESERVE

The Federal Reserve, which was established in 1913 by President Woodrow Wilson and his financial advisors, holds such power and responsibilities including: “Conducting the nations monetary policy by influencing the monetary and credit conditions in the economy in pursuit of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates; supervising and regulating banking institutions to ensure the safety and soundness of the nations banking and financial system and to protect the credit rights of consumers; maintaining stability of the economy and containing systemic risk that may arise in financial markets; and providing financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions, including playing a major role in operating the nation’s payments system.”


Although the Federal Reserve has many responsibilities, what is it about the Feds that has many individuals, ranging from fed watchers-to-economist-to ordinary intellectual investors listening very carefully, analyzing words and phrases expressed by the Federal Reserve? That can only be one thing, which is monetary policy and interest rates. One would probably ask, why listen and examine so carefully at every word and phrase by the Fed when the topic of short-term interest rates arises? This is mainly because a decrease or increase in short-term interest rates affects all aspects of the economy including: employment, inflation, investments, loans, mortgages, the stock market, etc. Taking into account the Federal Reserve’s power of monetary policy, it is unquestionable that the Feds adjust short-term interest rates for the betterment of the economy and to achieve economic growth as seen from June 2004 to June 2006 where the feds have adjusted interest rates 17 times.

GLOBALIZATION

As soon as I bought the book, The Amoral Elephant, the first thing that caught my attention was the title. Tabb defines his notion of what an amoral elephant means, which made a lot of sense to me. The elephant is capitalism. One individual puts his arms around a leg and says it is a tree trunk. Another leans against his body and says, “the wall of this old fortress is strong and thick.” Another grabs the tail and considers it a strong rope. Another feels, the ear and recognizes it as a “giant leaf of a jungle plant.” “Each of them is confident that he understands the totality from the local experiential information they have obtained. However, the one riding on top of the elephant has a different experience and of course mentality from those who are beneath. “The elephant itself is amoral.

IT IS TRUE…the RICH KEEPS GETTING RICHER and THE POOR KEEPS GETTING POORER. When factors create the increasing markets, the need for exploitation is unquestionable in order to stay in this race of success and dominance by using cheap labor. Those individuals working in sweat shops have no sense of investments or financial upward mobility considering their wages. Those in charge and those making the rules are the ones benefiting from the whole thing. And those in the middle are almost obligated to deal with the changes in our global market economy. According the book, “the riches 10 percent of American families received 85 percent of the three trillion-plus dollars increase in stock market valuation between 1989 and 1997.” That was back then. Do you still think that 10 percent is still receiving most of the wealth? Of course, according factual evidence most of the world lives on $2 dollars a day and it takes MONEY to MAKE MONEY! SO yes that same 10 percent is still getting more and more; a result of GLOBALIZATION!

McCain for president??? I DONT THINK SO!

I am neither a Republican or a democrat and more of an independent. I believe one should hear and analyze all propositions made by the candidates running for the presidency first before making a decision. I am aware that the majority will vote for the candidate that is associated with their party, but is this always the right move?!!


I’ll be honest; I don’t think McCain is suitable to be president. In regards to Sen. McCain, number one he is too old. In fact, if elected he will be the oldest individual to be elected president in U.S. history. Number two, McCain says his expertise is foreign policy and that he knows very little about the economy. It’s bad enough that Sen. McCain admitted he knows very little about the economy and is willing to take a no hands approach-just like the previous administration-in current terrible economic times; but, he confused Al-Qaeda with Iran throughout the whole speech. I don’t know about you guys, but if this is his way of expressing that he is an expert on foreign policy we have a problem Washington D.C.!!! Joe Lieberman had to whisper in his ear to correct himself, which is embarrassing enough. I honestly thought I was going to hear a very detailed explanation in regards to this ridiculous error. Boy was I wrong!!! He simply said, ‘I’m sorry. I meant Iranian extremist. Do you know what I am thinking? McCain is justifying a war with Iran, something that we do not need right now!

International Business Machines

In 1924 when CTR became IBM the intentions of going international was evident. You might ask, why do you think that? The name International Business machines says it all. The 1950’s and 1960’s changed how IBM’s objective was thought. Now more businesses needed computers and that’s when IBM became a multinational corporation. IBM’s decision to go international was a wise move because trade brings new innovations and a market for growth. The objective of becoming a world economic leader was now a reality and IBM was able to be globally dominant. However, when doing business on a global scale many forces can affect trade and serve as obstacles such as social cultural, financial, legal, physical, and environmental forces. This is exactly was happened to IBM. The late 1800’s and early 1990’s were difficult times for the company. I thought IBM did the right move when they appointed a new CEO in 1993 in order to examine their global strategy. Louis V. Gerstner was a CEO that understood how to perform in foreign markets and who followed tradition.

Many experiences were needed in order to be successful in this emerging global community. Many different economic, political, and cultural forces affect how an MNC conducts business in foreign markets. IBM has gone through its share of positive and negative experiences. However, in good or bad times, it is up to the leader of the organization to implement strategic changes that would benefit the organization in the long run. Samuel J. Palmisano, current IBM Chairman of the boards of directors and CEO, is a prime example of a leader that went against tradition in order to compete in this global market by utilizing different managerial strategies. Samuel J. Palmisano states, “we’re moving beyond "international" business to something that is more like ‘transnational.’ For instance, IBM has 30 software labs around the world. We have research labs in six countries, including China and India. We're global by definition and have been for a long time, which creates tremendous advantages for our customers and shareholders, and tremendous opportunities for the top talent in markets all over the world, ” according to an article in Online news week.