Real Estate solution and best Property Deal.

India is the "most preferred" destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) such as joint ventures and Real Estate investments and New Delhi being its capital is the best place to invest. The realty sector of India is on an upsurge due to the conducive FDI policies so this is the best time to materialize a property deal in one of the most prominent cities of the world.

If you've plans to invest in Delhi or New Delhi, the capital of India, then you're in the right place as our site www.zameen-zaidad.com has real estate tied up with India's best and world class builders, promoters, constructors and agents for providing you the ultimate Real Estate solution and best Property Deal.

Delhi, a modern cosmopolitan city, is the best example of a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society. It's the center of the vast Indian bureaucracy and political system with an ever expanding economy. Delhi's real estate steadily-increasing quality of life, a booming economy and consumer market makes it one of the hottest destinations for investment.

A property in Delhi real estate will be a prized possession as it's centrally located and most of the prominent cities of India and the Metros are well connected with Delhi. Delhi also houses some of the premier educational institutions of India and many quality schools and it is home to a number of renowned intellectuals, museums, art galleries and places of historic importance.

Foreign investments in Delhi real estate promises high return on investments, as FDI policies in India are among the most liberal and attractive in emerging economies. So, invest in Delhi real estate India and be a part of this most promising economy.
Published: 2007-08-25
Author: jansenkoe
About the author or the publisher
I m jansenkoe, i m contain writer.
www.zameen-zaidad.com

Do You Have Email Manners?

The other day our teacher at the technical writing class announced "Today we are going to talk about using Email as an excellent means of communication". I thought 'here it comes, at last I will know more about this'. Like many people in India, I was a latecomer to Email, that too only when it was forced upon me. My father was ill after a stroke and I had to often correspond with my sister in the United States. I noticed that her Emails always began with 'Sunder'. Never was it 'Dear Sunder'. Her replies to my long and meandering Emails were often short and sometimes sounded even curt. I was concerned a bit in the beginning. I still am although I have got used to it a little. Like every communication tool Email came armed with a danger to ruin even our most intimate relationships forever.

At first, when we began our affair with Email, it was wonderful. We were thrilled. Email brought everyone closer, built new friendships and even strengthened existing ones. That was before we took three weeks to answer an Email from a friend who expected a response that morning. That was before many of our school alumni tracked us down to relate all over again. That was before we realized that Email has its own set of rules: we found that Email was a mystery that the user finds out the hard way. The possibility to offend and be offended always looms large over you. There is no Mr. Perfect to explain your Email manners.

Because Email makes it possible to receive an immediate reply, we always expect one. Email expands silence, makes it go faster. A month in Email time feels like twenty years. You could safely wait two months to answer a letter or a few days to return a phone call. But with Email you demand an answer right now. The sad irony is if when you are the one who takes three weeks to answer an Email - there is no problem then. It is only when the person at the other end fails to reply to your Emails within hours that you get your pressure up. Again, who wants an Email friend who goes on and on for pages? And who answers your own verbal diarrhea on paper with just a simple okay?

A polite Email includes and should include several questions if we all had our way. "How are you?", "How was Vinny today?", "What are you doing this time for Diwali?". If your friend or relative fails to respond to such questions, you wonder if he or she has actually read your message. But the sad part is that you are least interested in your friend's Diwali. This is a typical Email mystery, you ask questions whose answers you really don't want. You then get offended when your own questions are left ignored.

As it was for my sister, 'Dear' seems a bit old fashioned on the Net. But when we omit an opening salutation it does sound like picking the phone up and keep talking without saying the beginning 'Hello'. Again, signing off an Email without the usual 'sincerely' or 'faithfully' is like putting the phone down without even a goodbye.

The confusion of it all makes you want to long for the days when 'Jane Austen' wrote her 'Pride and Prejudice' with her feather pen and inkpot.
Published: 2008-01-15
Author: Sunder Venkataram

Does team-building lead to cheating?

The idea of writing this article was in my mind long before reading “the truth about why men cheat” by Nicole Yorio from Redbook, but I guess this article triggered the actual act of writing.

One of the negative counterparts of the team-building, when the companies don’t allow the partners of the employees to take part at the organized activities, is the colleagues’ affective involvement, sometimes to the extent of forgetting their families and partners back home. Unfortunately, I am telling from first hand experience that big and famous multinational companies repeatedly do this type of mistakes, which step by step, lead to divorce.

If it were up to me, I would have requested the obligation of the companies to stipulate in the labor contracts their team-building policy. I by no means have the intention to find excuses to the less responsible or with lower morals standards employees, but I have to admit that, at times like Christmas, Easter, New Year Eve, and other important feasts or celebrations, when the employees should have the possibility to be beside their partners and families, the temptation is really high to get emotionally involved with the colleagues and to start a long term relationship since the time at work exceeds the time at home.

The companies which forbid the presence of the employees’ partners during the team-building activities, even if they would gladly come on their own expense, should bear the legal consequences in terms of lawsuits for destroying marriages.
Published: 2008-10-20
Author: Aliaa Bostan

Redefining Success: Ethics, Consequences and Lessons from Prison

Have you ever had one of those “ah-ha” moments when you quickly gained a greater awareness than you ever had before? I must say, that as bad as I felt in this place, prison was an intense learning lab. I didn’t know that going in, but in retrospect I am glad I took notes, because the lessons and opportunities for growth were coming at me quickly. How easy it would have been to miss those lessons.

Often folks grow weary when they hear people talk of learning through adversity. All too often we prefer life to be a smooth ride with few bumps in the road. Fortunately, I’ve experienced both and while there is joy in a calm pleasant ride, more times than not my greatest learning has been during turbulent times. The next section that follows is an excerpt from my Memoirs from Prison. In each of these one can capture a learning pearl – something that can be applied in everyday life, if only we let it.

October 5, 1995.

Buck, my roommate, and I talked for a long while last night. He is a spiritual person, doing his time, the best he can. He has five children in been in federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm surprised, but I like this guy, he seems to shoot straight.

Last night, Buck asked me a question. I don't recall today what it was, but I remember his response. He looked to me with a puzzled look, and said, “word?" I didn't understand, and repeated his statement with, “word?" He said, “Yeah -- word?” I must admit I didn't have a clue what he meant. Then he looked at me and said, “You just don't understand a brother do you?" And with that he walked out of the room.

I just stood there. I had no clue what just happened. Three days in prison, and we just hit a communications stumbling block. Moments later, Buck returned to the room and said,” I'll make you an offer. I'll teach you how to communicate in the hood, if you'll teach me how to talk, so I can get a job when I get out of here.” “Deal?”

At that moment, I began to understand the term -- success -- in a whole new light. I had always defined success in terms of one's possessions. But in here, we have no possessions. Success can be defined as being safe while in prison and getting out of prison safely. Buck recognized that I am a fish out of water. This is not my environment. But he is willing to help me achieve success here, if I could help him achieve success outside of prison. What an amazing opportunity that is placed before me.

Now, it’s over ten years later and that lesson still rings clear. Success in one’s life is not really measured by the “trappings” of success. Sure a big house, nice watch, expensive car, fine jewelry all are indications of abundance of resources – money. But none of them truly define success. I was, by all accounts, successful – at least that’s what everyone thought. Yet, by making unethical choices I gained a clear understanding of true success in one of the most unexpected places – prison.

Thankfully – Success – is a journey and at times, even when we don’t like it, we’re given the opportunity to find success in small ways and odd places. This gift that was given has opened many doors for me to share with others. For information on how that can benefit you or your organization or to receive my Choices ezine contact www.chuckgallagher.com or e-mail me at chuck@chuckgallagher.com. And remember you can live success – the choice is yours!
Published: 2007-01-01
Author: Chuck Gallagher
About the author or the publisher
On a crisp October day in 1995, Chuck Gallagher took 23 physical steps… opened a door… and began a new experience that was life-changing. This series of articles explores that experience and the success that followed… while involving the reader in ways that could be life-altering for them. Gallagher captures the heart of the audience in an honest way that deals with human emotion. For information on Chuck’s keynotes and workshops go to www.chuckgallagher.com or for a free ezine on Ethical Choices contact Chuck at chuck@chuckgallagher.com.
www.chuckgallagher.com

Ethics and Consequences: Lessons from Prison

Competent, educated and in prison – I would never have considered that this is where I would be some 11 years ago. But, there are consequences to every choice we make and though one might think that we can avoid the consequences – we can’t. They are unavoidable and certain. We just don’t know how or when we will face the inevitable.

As a former CPA who, through a series of choices, became a white-collar criminal, I now take the time to review my time in prison and write about that experience so that others may gain benefit from my experience. Some of us learn lessons the hard way. Yet, through sharing the experience of my incarceration, others have stated that they’ve been able to look at their choices in a different and more productive way.

While the prison experience was painful, as the following excerpt from my memoirs shows, it provided a foundation for an incredible opportunity for growth. Likewise, through the prison experience I found numerous ways to help others.

My journal dated - October 6, 1995 reads as follows:

“8:37 a.m. -- Reading this morning brought up feelings of sadness, once again. I understand I'm here to be punished, and being away from my children and the things I hold dear is punishment.

4:00 p.m. -- Its time for mail call and stand up count time. I live for this time. Being cut off from society is difficult. I hope each day that someone cares enough to send me a letter.

9:40 p.m. -- At dinner tonight I had a revelation, I need to talk to high school children and college kids, about the effects of the choices they make. 70% or more of the people here are here for drug-related crimes. It's sad to see the educational level of most of the inmates. How can anyone expect to ever break the cycle of poverty and crime, if they don't have the education to do so? I don't know my role now, but hopefully someday I can make a difference.”

Now, some eleven years later, I find that the personal growth from the prison experience provided a foundation for help to others. The revelation to speak to high school and college students has manifested through the establishment of the Choices Foundation, which provides a forum to educate young people on the effects of the choices they make.

It’s extremely powerful to see and hear how young people react to the message of choice and consequence. All too often they don’t experience the direct consequence of the choices they make. The detriment of youth is you haven’t lived long enough to see the link between choice and outcome. Likewise, many youth, other than perhaps those extremely disadvantaged, have no connection with anyone who has been incarcerated for their actions. Therefore, being exposed, in a direct way, to someone who has made unethical choices and faced the consequences, to some is profound.

All too often we find that “ethics” and “ethical choices” dominate our media through new events of what has been done wrong. In order to change our focus, we must create an awareness of what should be done right. Ethics and ethical thoughts must begin with an understanding that one cannot escape the consequences of their personal choices.

For a free report on the five most common corporate ethics violations, go to www.chuckgallagher.com.
Published: 2007-01-01
Author: Chuck Gallagher
About the author or the publisher
On a crisp October day in 1995, Chuck Gallagher took 23 physical steps… opened a door… and began a new experience that was life-changing. This series of articles explores that experience and the success that followed… while involving the reader in ways that could be life-altering for them. Gallagher captures the heart of the audience in an honest way that deals with human emotion. For information on Chuck’s keynotes and workshops go to www.chuckgallagher.com or for a free ezine on Ethical Choices contact Chuck at chuck@chuckgallagher.com.
www.chuckgallagher.com

Why One Must Avoid Submitting Plagiarized Papers To Clients

Plagiarism is the practice of claiming or implying original authorship of ( or incorporating material from), someone else’s written or creative work, in whole or in part into one’s own, without adequate acknowledgement. Plagiarism by students, professors or researchers is considered academic dishonesty, or academic fraud, and offenders are subject to academic censure.(cited from Wikipedia)

The use of internet has only resulted in e-cheating. Students, consultants, professors and researchers can easily do a cut /paste job, as there are innumerable webs from where they can download material form. Genuine form creators are therefore unaware of the potential the internet has for echeating, and such plagiarism only results in a fall in values, and mediocrity and original works may not merit the due appreciation they deserve. A classic example is the web essayworld.com where students can pick up any paper on any topic , copy , paste and submit the same.

Wherever there is work, there are clients. One of the most important parts of work, is to maintain steady relationships with clients. Beyond the importance of a client contract is the ability to deliver the goods, focus on the objectives and being original is a part of this process. Plagiarized articles or reports given to clients would only tantamount to cheating, sabotage or deception. Plagiarism is a legal issue as well, and this can complicate the client relationship manyfold.

Clients believe in judging consultants or article writers by the quality of service they receive. With many sites offering customized papers, clients may be enticed into accepting a low cost quote on the deliverable. But keep in mind, any client is bound to shun a piece of borrowed text, where someone else’s name appears on somebody else’s text. This may lead to loss of identity and ratification of a falsified deliverable. Plagiarized articles lead to a fall in quality levels, a downfall of ethics and moral values By plagiarizing the consultant or article writer has only endorsed a stolen good as genuine.

The origin of ideas comes from the human brain. While our brain is at work, original creativity stems from our environment, past experiences and novel episodes which may have occurred in our life. Being creative and original is indeed a virtue. Adopting someone else’s stance on things consciously or unconsciously , would only provide insights on what others are doing or thinking, a duplication of some sorts, or a plagiarist attitude.

Certain tips on how to complete an assignment successfully:

(i) Devote full quality time to the assignment/article.
(ii) Give oral presentations as far as possible and then document the presentation.
(iii) Conceptualise on the problem.
(iv) Add value on the article/report content through conceptualization.
(v) Subscribe to a plagiarism search service to detect plagiarism.
(vi) Implement the advice.


Published: 2007-12-13
Author: Amita Shanbag

Made in China Helps Connect Merchants Buying Countdown Timer Products

If you are a merchant looking to purchase countdown timer products, one service that can help you substantially is Made in China. Made in China is a comprehensive business to business E-commerce marketing platform that makes it extremely easy to connect with suppliers and traders in Asia and all over the world instantly. No matter what you are looking to buy, Made in China can offer you the tools and resources to help your business prosper and grow for the long run. Here are some tips on how Made in China can help your business.

Made in China is one of the finest marketing platforms on the web today and boasts a membership base of over 5 million strong. While you might think of Made in China as an online manufacturer & supplier phone book, our service offers a lot more. For instance, whether you are looking to purchase countdown timer products or almost any other type of product, Made in China can help you connect fast and easily with suppliers and manufacturers in China.

In addition, Made in China goes a step further in giving you the tools, resources and information needed to search through a business’s offerings and check out a company so that you can make the right decision on whether the product or company fits your businesses needs.

Besides the ability to research businesses online, we also offer quality and current information to ensure that you have the tools available to trade efficiently. Obviously, overseas trade can be complicated- especially those new to it, however Made in China is committed to making sure that your business has the resources available to trade safely, securely and affordably. Made in China also offers a variety of premium services including trade consultancy for businesses with specific trade issues.

One way we can help merchants looking to purchase countdown timer products is to not only help them connect with suppliers or manufacturers, but give them a set of comprehensive resources to ensure that merchants do not fall into the traditional pitfalls or come face to face with obstacles that make overseas trade less productive and ultimately more expensive.

If you are a business looking to purchase countdown timer products or for that matter any item, you can join Made in China for free. This risk free offer is the perfect way to experience our service and to see if it fits your business’s needs.
Published: 2008-03-12
Author: shulei
About the author or the publisher
The height 1.75 meters male have regular facial features
www.madeinchina.com

Enjoy Your Fast “Electronic” Food

China Enter Into a Fast Food Times

In the past few years, China’s rapidly changing lifestyles and eating habits have resulted in a booming fast food industry. Chinese consumers had few fast food choices before Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) pioneered the way, expanding China market in 1987 and won a great triumph by taking its first-mover advantage. Swiftly recognizing KFC's great success in the market, others like Pizza Hut and McDonald's followed suit. As China increasingly embraces the outside world and its snack food, foreign fast food chains are kicking off a high-speed expansion in the world's biggest market. As a result, the popular American food has become a huge success story. Thus, Madeinchina.com offers a wider range of fast food with tremendous tastes and styles for those white collars and business executives who are quite busy and have less time to have dinner at desk.

Help to Make Your Food Healthier

Just like Americans, working Chinese couples enjoy dining out as a welcome break from the daily routine of home cooking. Chinese children, especially teenagers, also enjoy a weekend night out with their friends by combining their social activities of window shopping and entertainment with a visit to the nearest fast-food restaurant. When choosing, be aware of highly caloric additions such as salad dressings, cheese, sour cream, etc. Sometimes, making your choice healthier is as simple as removing the condiments. The most important thing to remember when eating out is to think of it as part of your overall healthy eating plan. Try to order wisely and if portions or big or the food is rich, consider taking some of it home for a meal the next day. Also, consider sharing entrees, appetizers or desserts with dining partners or friends. Everything in moderation is a wise guideline to follow when considering the menu at your favorite restaurant. Try to click Madeinchina.com and choose what we recommend and enjoy your convenient even healthier online dinner.

High Efficiency to Order Your Food

It is now easier than ever before to order a fast food delivery from your local takeaway because you can do it over the internet. Via (madeinchina.com/catalog/Fast-Food), you can lookup fast food whatever you like in your local area and see their entire menu online. Ordering is just a matter of clicking on what you prefer and entering your address. The order will then be sent to the fast food suppliers for delivery to you. From this website, you can order any type of fast food from burgers to kebabs, Chinese foods, pizza, Thai or Japanese chips. Have a look at what we can offer and choose what you want. Signing up at Madeinchina.com also lets you choose your preferred charity and review a past history of all your orders. You can even see your favorable food and quickly re-order them.

(Article source: http://www.madeinchina.com)

Banking Sector Consolidation and Strategies for Generating Superior Return in Nigeria.

To look into the banking sector consolidation exercise in Nigeria are to see into the future of Nigerian economy. Bank as a financial institution deals primarily in money. It constitute the financial framework of a nations economy, with the major concentration of helping to pool savings and excess liquidity from millions of individuals and firms within the country and to make them available to those who require them for various purposes.Banks in-group has commenced the integration of various processes and are to appoint consultant that will facilitate that will facilitate the integration exercise. New ideas, inventions and adjustment have to be installed in banking sector to satisfy customer’s need since they are not independent but partially dependent to meet the standard required of them. The consolidat! ion exercise in the country is also to tackle the need for customers derived banking.

It is also going to change the shape of banking in the country. They are being tested and equipped to compete with the international banking sector .it will build confidence on the mergers in that the bank’s focus will be on electronic banking and eradication of counter banking. It would also mean training bank staff to be fast and doing and adaptable in any millennium banking strategies ‘Catch them young’ is to be considered the ideology of these mergers and to open a way for Nigerian banks not to be held guilty of dropout in the international banking sector. The banking sector could be seen as survival of the fittest in this consolidation era.. Consolidation of the banking sector in Nigeria is to enable banks to compete globally and embrace innovation in their intermediation functions. Suggesting that the surviving banks would provide a final solution to funding for the productive sector of ! the economy. Banking sector believe that new investments will be attracted to the sector through consolidation and most of it might come through capital market. With the ultimatum at the last count, many banks had concluded plans or arrangement to raise capital base while others are in a race against time to beat deadline and for few who felt that they couldn’t meet up; are up and doing. Several banks are on their toes, to guard against any hideous fallout from the exercise.

Those caught napping are trying to win positions with the mega brand names that have emerged with direct and hopeful approval from the central bank (CBN) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). They are sure to be approved which signifies the end of consolidation. The primary objective of the merger is to consolidate banks equity holdings in its subsidiary and related banks toward evolving into unified banking institution that would maintain a premiership positions in the post bank. Consolidation era.! The proposed mergers are expected to eliminate the duplication of administrative and marketing effort and result in more efficient utilization of assets. The consolidation in banking sector is aimed at recognizing the effort and to attract investors into the banking sector.Financial sector reforms, especially the requirement for Nigerian banks to re-capitalize to the tune brought about consolidation in banking sector. The policy has had as much impact on the Nigerian capital market development within a period of one year, that is the ongoing banking sector consolidation exercise and there is an ample evidence that it could be the best cost effective bank consolidation programme on any country in the history of country wide banks merger and acquisition in the world.

The 25-billion minimum requirement for the banks announced by the central bank of Nigeria (CBN) are to benefit banks that survive it, in a way of holding huge public sector deposit and may ! be permitted to hold some foreign reserve deposits. Having the target of competing globally but also embrace innovation in their intermediation functions. The surviving banks are holding hope that national economy hang on them and would provide a final solution to funding for the productive sectors of the economy. Arrangement is said to be on, that there will be automation process rendition of returns by banks and others through electronics financial surveillance system, E-fass. The belief of central bank is centered or anchored on the fact that such singular and approved policy may have as much impact on the Nigeria capital market development within the intended period and beyond, the ongoing banking sector consolidation exercise that the 89 banks in Nigeria had concluded and is concluding by the deadline giving them, there is proof that it could be the best cost-effective bank consolidation programme of any country of the world. Nigeria has meant much for them with such imme! asurable policy.

Learning bank to provide an efficient means of exchange for investors and customers. Banks are to be alert to any hole that would come up as a result of not having full dependency on themselves, to be up and doing and to mastermind their business.Gladly, Nigerian banking sector is walking to restore the dignity of Nigeria economy to restore to dignity of Nigeria economy, it is going to be tough, it is going to be difficult. Adjustment has to be made, plans are to be made and implemented, factors have to be raised and put in place and more importantly the country has to face with beating of inflation and low flow of cash. It is not for bad because they are to smile with the new exercise and policy. No success is to be recorded in banking sector if the country did not pass through a little time of change like this. Economy is exercising authority over Nigeria at this consolidation exercise period.Bank constitutes !

He framework of a nations economy. They cannot be idle and at the same time meet with what is expected of them. They must seek for ways to maintain the country’s confidence in them. They must look for strategies to generate superior returns; banks must adopt under listed practical suggestions if they are to maintain the unscrappable confidence in them. Mobilization of current account is a step to be taken since current account demands that the customers deposit their money and pay some commission to the bank to enable it covers the cost of operating such an account. The mobilization, which will go a long way to initiate businessmen, industrialist and others who would want to operate with current account largely make constant withdrawal and payment. With the use of teller money can be deposited to this account both internal and external.Moreso, mobilizing customers to open and to operate with saving account will generate mon! ey for the bank. Since the bank operateswith current account largely make constant withdrawal and payment. With the use of teller money can be deposited to this account both internal and external.

More so, mobilizing customers to open and to operate with saving account will generate money for the bank. Since the bank operate with a passbook and can be operated directly by the owner, but someone else could pay in money into the account, though a popular type of account operated by many persons especially those with low income. Commercial banks should increase deposit requirements to enable hefty business operators to take interest in it and adopt it as a banking plan. The operation of banks encourages savings. They provide facilities for savings, people could save money .By performing this role they help mobilize capital which can then be lent to investors. They therefore encourage capital accumulation, which help to speed! up growth development and profit to the bank.

Time or fixed account should also be indigenized and merited, as the best strategy the bank should adopt in raising money. money Deposited into it cannot be withdrawn. Bank previously operating with that type of account usually fix period which sometime maybe one year six months or three months as the case maybe. Before the money can be withdrawn with firsthand notice to the bank, banks can use this money to transact business with well trusted companies, individuals or businessmen which should not exceed the withdrawal months depending on the number of customers operating with the account and the money involved. Consolidated banks should act as agents of payment on behalf of their customers. Some customers have regu! lar payment to be made and to be made to.

The issue of many transfer which many indigenous or foreign expatriate banks have not adopted or yet to be adopted should go a long way to generate superior returns to the bank. The fertilized idea of this, which some banks have made available for sometime, have exposed them to foreign and local business transaction. Some of these foreign hard earned currencies, which are of greater value to our money, increase bank gain and open an opportunity for future business transaction. Also, mobilizing customers to make regular payment such as rent, insurance premium, school fees, Nigerian telecommunication (Nitel) and national electric power authority (Nepa) bills and Private Corporation. Business transaction is to be considered by banks when looking for strategies for generating superior returns. A ‘standing order’ can be left with the bank, which will make the regular payment on his behalf; the account of the customer is debit by the amount p! aid, including commission charged. Also, firms and organization can make payment to its workers through a bank.

Which suggest that the amount of the workers can be credited on a regular basis according to the amount due to them. This will attract the worker to open an account with the current bank. The federal government pay the national youth service corps(NYSC) through united Bank for Africa (UBA) suggesting that all branches of UBA will put a smile on their face hence corpers can withdraw their money through its branches nationwide. Banks can also ensure that forms are obtainable from them, for example, West African Examination Council (WAEC) National Examination Council (NECO) Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) etc. when these form are sold by the banks, they generate more income. Customers also can instruct his bank to pay his creditors. Banks should ensure that to generate superior returns they should adopt collection of cheques, bills of exchange and other ins! trument of credit on behalf of their customers if the system is to continue.

Sadly because of problems that indigenous commercial bank face like, social pressure and commitment of banking personnel that make bank give out loans and advances, which are not in line with normal banking procedure. The policy was staked because some managers adopt a liberal loan policy in order to meet the demand of their friends,’ relatives etc. it has resulted in a high incidence of bad dept when indigenous bank and commercial banks are compared with their foreign counterpart. It also opens opportunity for wealthy people to use their connections to get loans. Which sometimes are not repaid. But the above policy or reason does not rule out the idea of the consolidated banks to act a lending agent to customers. They should avoid using bank for running of charity organization for their friends, relatives or connected individuals rather they can give deposit loan to ! borrowers who have the necessary collateral security such as stock and share certificate, life insurance policy, landed property and fat pay check from other banks.

They should tactfully subject the customer to open up a direct loan. Bank demand interest on the loan taken and it is being paid additionally, the banks to generate superior returns, they should enlarge the idea of giving loan facilities to current account customers in the form of overdraft. In acting as lending agent, the commercial bank can discount bills of exchange and hold them until they mature. To reach the heart of these ones they need to update them with lending information and encourage them to consider it, as they are out to transact business with them. Banks should hang on government by lending money to them when the need for that arises by purchasing government treasury bills. They made effort by acting as an intermediary and borrowers, mobile capital and give it to those who can make effective use of it in p! roductive ventures, thereby speeding up their profit and related economic development out to maximize profit by trading in money.

For bank to increase profitability they have to attract more depositors from people by offering to pay them interest on their deposit. They deposit attracted, the more they could lend out and increase their profit. This might not be done necessarily by only money deposit; it can also be done by helping in safekeeping of their customer’s valuables. Those valuable can be in form of costly jewelry and important documents such as wills, shares certificate and educational certificates. All the banks in Nigeria have facilities for this but have for decades lack the vision. They should resurrect this idea and seek for ways to perform this function effectively. Adopting this system will create a practicable desire on the customers to pay any amount ! charged to them by the bank since the security of some of these customers are endangered. Customers assume industriousness,, devotedness and commitment of bank based on their act as referee as to the integrity and financial standing of their customer. They should try to recommend their customers to foreign firms who require indigenous business partners for carrying out their business, it also include giving financial and technical advice to their customers in matter relating to investment.

Advising their business customers operation on how best to carry out their business operation, how to raise capital for business, whether to start a new business or to expand the existing one etc. it is important in international trade and helps accelerate economic development. These actions will melt the heart of customers and they assume that the particulars bank has their interest at heart. Compensating the bank with grand customers, awareness, opening an account with them and strong recommend! ation of the bank to others will not be over emphasized to them.To avoid running the risk of being a drop out in the banking sector, and the problem of capital shortage, they should intensify help in foreign exchange transaction thereby facilitating foreign trade and travel, they do this by selling foreign currencies to importers. Ensuring that anyone who wishes to travel abroad could purchase travelers cheques from them. These enable customers and people to settle their international indebtedness bearing in mind that they face very stiff competition from foreign banks, they should try and grease their face so as to patronize indigenous businessmen who are going to prefer foreign banks with better banking facilities.

Since in Nigeria, public confidence in indigenous banks is not very high and some of them cannot attract as many deposit as foreign-owned banks, so to attract more on ! ‘high trade’ customers and to control the lion’s share of the banking business they should try to take risk required, but positive. These include helping directly in the productive sector of the economy. They can own shares in commercial, agricultural and industrial ventures or could set up business on their own. By being concerned in business and by participating in business concerns, enough capital is provided for raising the level of production in the economy by more especially on their profit. Directly too, banks can act as agents that purchase stock and shares for their customers. Selling of shares and stock to their customers on behalf on issuing houses. They therefore ease transferability of securities and help in pooling resources for investment. With joint effort of the issuing house and the issuer (bank) they ensure that staked customers are attracted in buying the shares in bulk. The money generated from selling of this stock and shares should be used in transacting bu! siness and then pay. The customers with the part of the profit generate.

As a strategy to generate superior returns consolidated bank must ensure that they made themselves important agent for carrying out government monetary policy like the use of open market operation. It constitutes buying and selling of government securities, like treasury bills and bond from and to the business organizations. Though it will lead to the fall of the amount of money left in the banks still they should act as a watchdog to know when the central banks wants more money to be in circulation. They should act fast by selling securities to the central bank and receive their payment. If the security is not stipulated or mandated or said to be shared equally, they should ensure that they buy it in bulk to enable them record higher in profit and to use the surplus money bought in business transaction, it ! increase their power as the lender and money in circulation will increase. They must also be increased bank rate during inflation. They should not be reminded to increase their own interest to record equilibrium.

Though their lending ability will come to low ebb, leading to a reduction in the amount of money in circulation and risk of inflation, still if central bank should reduce their rate it will benefit both commercial banks and the customers. Borrowing will be encouraged and money increased. But the above suggestion is given to enable the bank to adapt to any new development and employing strategies to generate superior returns. Central banks gives directions and moral suasion to commercial banks on the size and type of loan to be given to any sector and also they gives directive on weather to continue in giving loan if the sector is not responding. So, if these policies are made available to the banks, they should adhere to it to avoid running the risk of loosing the business. Suggestions like restricting lending habits or adopting a more liberal loan policy needs to be paid attention to, bearing in mind that other banks are accountable and answerable to the central bank.It haunts the motivation of every concerned individual that there is banking inefficiency resulting from a lack of skilled personnel and management. Lack of skilled personal is due partly to the general shortage of skilled manpower in West Africa and inadequate fund to pay the salaries of highly qualified personals and management.

If the personnel are not efficient, banking business in seriously handicapped. The suggested major censes is that some indigenous banks tend to have affiliation only with ethnic origin. Directly, this mental attitude affects banking operation. Some banks may choose to employ people from a geographical area, or lend money or even frown at seeing another! staff from a different region presiding over the bank and will result it to enmity. Some of these banks do not consider educational background, the person’s accessibility in the banking sector, the managerial ability of the person and even the general rule guiding the banking sector. These hampered the smooth operation of the bank, reduce the speed of bank extension and result in to low income.
Politically too, some indigenous bank tend to have political affiliation. This too affects banking operations. Political pressures sometimes make them depart from the normal banking procedures for guarantying loans.

Loans are given to these politicians; sometimes they do not meet with the requirements. Political parties most often finances their campaign with loans from these banks and when they fail they will put a hard knock on paying back to these banks. And some politicians who do not lean completely on the security of these banks, they tend to tr! ansfer the money abroad. Those banks that they feel have better facilities for modern banking business. So, for consolidated banks to meet up with these belly filled customers they must work hard to retain these customers and they can be retained by giving employment based on merit and not being tribalistic. More to that they should be careful not to give out loan to political parties who do not meet up with the requirement for giving loan. Being fast to dictating bank officials who are bent to enrich themselves by corruptly embezzling money in defrauding their customer.

Another step the consolidated banks in Nigeria should take is the creation of money by commercial banks involving the multiple expansions of bank credits. Following the assumption in the process of credit creation like acting as a unit lf a bank should be independent work! ing on its own cannot create money, unless it is monopoly and which sometimes are practically impossible with the nature of economic development in Nigerian banking sector. If the bank stands to maintain independent, it will loose money to other banks. More to that, the law requires commercial banks to keep only a fractional part of the amount of money deposited with them as reserves. If they were required to keep 100% of the amount deposited with them as reserves there would be nothing to lend out and it would be impossible to make money with this idea The total amount of money created enticingly depend on the legal reserves requirements. The lower the reserve requirement, the greater the amount that can be created. With these processes there must be no leakages in the process of credit creation. All money borrowed from one bank is deposited in another bank.

So, money rotates and when it rotates in all the banks they gain, in order words generate superior returns. The issue still! revolves on the willingness of people to take loans and advances. Because if there are many people who are willing to borrow and have met the necessary requirement, the ability of banks to create money will be high. But if there are few people who want to take loans, credit creation will be low. But for the high taking of loan and low taking of loan, all depends on the bank. If they have the idea of generating superior returns they will look to it that these ones are sorted out and implant in them on why they need loan to fast forward their business.Banks should seek to be competitive with foreign and indigenous banks. Building and maintaining a competitive spirit in banking sector will speed up the profit growth of the bank. Seeking to establish business with the help of marketing department who should be dedicated and promising staff who have the interest of the bank at heart not! those that will bent on seeking for a selfish gain. Going into the job market and seeking the heart of these resourceful customers will enhance the generating of superior returns. With the modern system of banking that includes electronics banking system, banks should seek to open websites.

Websites contribute to 70 percent advertisement of bank. People can read their profiles, profits, loss, budgets and returns to know their stability. It also helps in the fastness of the business. Issuing of value cards, credit card and other cards also enhance the proficiency of a bank. Money can be faxed or downloaded once a payment is made from other banks with the help of this system.They should seek to be approved agent of money gram, which is believed to be the fastest, and safest way to send money worldwide. Today, banking customers has changed and they want bank to change too. They exp! ect to do business on their own terms, when where and how they please. They also expect to have simultaneous, single view access to all their account during just one telephone call or website visit, requiring that they should ask for access card to be provided to them. Banks should ensure that these cards are made available to customers at their expense, thereby selling the price for the card.

In Nigeria, E-point financial services - a sector specific customer relationship management (CRM) system. Consolidated banks can now move into integrated and secure online, wireless and electronics customer’s services swiftly and simply. More to that, banks can proactively identify sales opportunities when talking to customers through immediate access to prefigures complimentary product line. For consolidated banks to generate superior return still, they must work in the hole of possible loss of customers by being effective on strategies to be enhanced by the systems ability profile and work to! target competitor business.Customers appreciate banks consideration in the area of delivery. The banks ability to make particular delivery channels a part of product or service offerings, which can be priced accordingly. The fact that customers seek to get a seamless, cost effective service no matter, which way they choose to get business - whether via contact centers, private arrangement, intermediaries or even mobile text messaging. At the same time intensify significant cost savings through the product ability to segment and respond appropriately to different levels of customers value. Other important product ease and speed of implementation.

Like the use and application of CRM and OFX processes to support common banking services or process like payment of bills, transfers, balance enquiries and statement request. The above systems are designed to open up the banking enterpris! e by supporting banking industry standard message code. These products are constructed with the ability to deliver vastly enhanced cross and up selling powers, to control and minimize attribution, and give new muscle to customers claw back activities, these will make a huge difference to banking efficiency and profitability.Just as importantly customers will welcome personnel, single view banking experience the banks will give them through this new invented services. It allows customers to have a near door tailored services to their individual needs and ability to do that in real and due time. Customers should not be viewed on regard as name and number on an account. Rather as value and cared customers whom banks should embrace as and built profitable lifetime customers. Similarly, the interbank rate paid in the interbank market when banks borr! ow from and lend to one another in order to adjust their liquidity position.

Calling to the attention of co-consolidators, instead of looking for external help would go a long way to restore the hope of not loosing but making profit from the money borrowed or lend.In the least conferences, seminars and training are regularly organized by Nigerian economic sector. Bank should seek to send delegates to those gathering both national and international. Not to be forgotten is regular publishing of their profiles in national’s diaries. These increased customer’s trust and actions on them.

Finally, it has meant must good for Nigerians in banking sector consolidation. At least, Nigerians are to enjoy improvement in banking sector as other sectors in Nigeria are doing. Wit the consolidations bank are prepared to fend for themselves and to be more dedicated and efficient. Learned out processes will be carried out now as a way to get things! done. Banks use to work on these strategies to generate superior returns. It is no exaggeration if we say that Nigeria is ascending on high economic calling, with this policy.
Published: 2008-08-23
Author: emmanuel ugokwe

A Starting Kit for Business Ethics

When Shoshana Zuboff wondered last month how the insurance industry carries on when so many customers have lost faith in it, I had no idea my worst fears would be confirmed so soon. The short answer is that some of them cheat. That's how companies can remain profitable while being despised and mistrusted by so many customers. This was captured piquantly by Vinay Saqi, a Morgan Stanley insurance analyst, who noted insurance companies have had "a difficult time making money when the game is rigged in their favor. We're concerned they won't fare well in a truly competitive environment."


Among the wealth of wrongdoing in this still unfolding story, one fact looms over the rest: Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of grown-ups knew about an array of fraudulent practices and failed to shout, "Wrong!" Instead, many regulators, independent watchdogs, brokers, executives in both the retail and commercial sectors, benefits consultants, and investment advisers joined together in a parallel moral universe. Collusion and conformity -- "it's not wrong because everyone is doing it" -- is accepted. Obedience -- "it's not wrong because they told me to do it" -- is okay. Opportunism -- "it's only wrong if I get caught" -- is encouraged. And, of course, narcissism -- "it's not wrong if it's good for us" -- is celebrated


This isn't something that will just blow over, even if the insurance industry somehow cleans up its act. As a result of the widespread acceptance of wrong as normal, suspicion now blooms in every encounter. Our children are already on guard. They know that marketing is intended to manipulate their desires, to sell them stuff that pleases while it poisons. Parents try to create a buffer for their kids, but parents can't stand alone; it really does take a village. And our village is being continually degraded by fresh onslaughts of wrong masquerading as normal. Worse, the same parents who are under siege pick up a briefcase, go to work, and participate in it as if they weren't its victims. Who takes the biggest hit when the ship goes down? Ask the 3,000 people tossed overboard by Marsh & McLennan Cos. after the ship's officers got caught drilling holes in the hull, or anyone whose pension was overinvested in Marsh Mac stock


So what's a village to do? For one thing, we've got to stop relying solely on the rare Eliot Spitzers of the world to carry the entire burden of our social conscience and try to effect change. We all have to share that burden.


The traditional inventory of resources isn't encouraging. As consumers, we're supposed to have spending power. We can withhold our cash from competitors that violate our values and interests. But this isn't effective in an economy where most of the companies in an industry are equally bad (as appears to be the case in the insurance industry).


As employees, we can withhold our talents, labor, and commitment. But without the backup of collective action, we risk being individual martyrs, facing as narrow a range of employment choices as there is for consumption.

Clearly, we need to invent new mechanisms and cultivate new resources for developing and asserting our individual moral authority. Here's a starter kit.


Initiate an online bulletin board to evaluate your own organization and its values in action. Use it to question standard practices, encourage discussion and debate of moral dilemmas, or even expose wrongdoing. Bulletin boards have been used within the eBay community to effectively influence its management. Build on those practices and take them to a new level.

Published: 2006-06-05
Author: trupti modi
About the author or the publisher
i am since 18 year in publication field and writing article on various subject like women,health,politics and many more.
Intresing articles are the art of mine.

Satyam Computers Floated on Lies for Seven Years

He was cooking his company’s books with a generous dash of lies to make the figures attractive. The portion of lies was getting larger and larger every year. It went on for seven years garnering several awards for the cook and the company along the way.

The lies, however, became too “fat” to contain at the end of the third quarter of the seventh year. The monster of the untruth had grown into $ 1 billion fraud, the first mega-scam of India’s IT space, with a global impact.

Left with no choice, cook B Ramalinga Raju, who happened to be the CEO and co-founder chairman of the company, Satyam Computers Services Ltd, decided to tell the truth or rather the untruth. On January 7, 2009, the e-mail he sent to his colleagues, saying that the company books contained non-existent assets and under-rated liabilities, was made public shocking people and markets across the world.

Besides the mayhem in Indian markets, a sudden uncertainty loomed large over 53,000 employees of the company. Within a couple of days job portals reported more than 25,000 applications from Satyam employees.

The fourth largest IT Company

Satyam Computers Services Ltd is the fourth largest IT services provider of India. Armed with an MBA from Ohio University, Raju co-founded the company 21 years ago. With the help of an abundant state patronage, Raju’s empire expanded into eight companies, including real estate and infra structure companies in his sons’ names.

Headquartered at the India’s southern city of Hyderabad, Satyam operates from more than 65 countries including the USA, the UK, the Middle East, Japan, Singapore and Australia. The company has business with more than 700 global clients including Fortune 500 companies such as Nestle, General Electric and Ford Motors.

Awards galore

The lies apart, Ramalinga Raju picked up several awards along his “spectacular” journey that include: the 2008 Golden Peacock Global Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance by World Council for Corporate Governance, of the UK and the Asia Business Leader Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2007 by Ernst & Young.

Ironically, Satyam's internal audit team, which apparently did not do a good job all these years, was awarded the Recognition of Commitment award by the Institute of Internal Auditors, USA in 2006.

Jail for the richest

Incidentally, “Satyam” means “truth” in Sanskrit. But Ramalinga Raju believed that he did not need to live by his company’s name.

However, Raju’s scant regard for “truth” has been emphatically rejected by his destiny. One of the ten richest Indians, a few days ago with his $1.3 billion fortune, he had to share a prison cell with 40 other inmates when he landed in jail eventually, two days after he sent the fateful e-mail.
Published: 2009-01-12
Author: Susheela Hegde
About the author or the publisher
Have been writing and editing for over six years. Have worked with a newspaper as sub-editor in India and as an online news writer for a US online news agency. Being a practitioner of new age spirituality, I am interested in writing on that subject, including mind and personal development. I can, however, write on any subject by referencing web sources.

Employee Motivation Techniques and Nonchalance Attitude Reinforcement in Public Administration

Employee motivation has become a critical issue for most public administration managers whose foremost function is to achieve high level employee performance and productivity. It’s pertinent that public administration entities employ the most effective motivational techniques while considering that different motivational techniques work for different employees. Thus this paper will attempt to analyze the sufficiency of financial based rewards such as bonuses, commissions as well as job promotions to motivate public administration employees. Besides, the paper will evaluate how ethics influence the application of financial rewards in public administration entities as opposed to private companies, how the role of organized labor influence employees compensation and benefits in the public sector and an overview of how existing reward systems in Administration and in this paper U.S Government public administration effectively reinforces an attitude of nonchalance.

Just like other employees, public administration employees are motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Therefore, for any reward system to be effective it must incorporate both sources of motivation especially given that all reward systems are designed to attract, retain and motivate workers.
Financial-based rewards such as bonuses, commissions as well as Job promotions form a significant component of the reward system, although there are other factors that motivate employees and influence their overall level of performance. In fact according to numerous studies conducted among public employees, the results indicated that among those surveyed, financial rewards was not the most motivating factor (Perry et al, 2006). The study also established that among public administration managers, financial results have a de-motivating effect among employees (Srivastava, 2001). Public administration entities are emphasizing on quality improvement teams and commitment building programs as opposed to financial incentives. A research conducted by the University of Texas in 2005 established that financial incentives (bonuses and commissions) make up less than 5% of the U.S public administration employees’ compensation (Stajkovic, 2003). The U.S private sector on the contrary is encouraging financial incentives through implementation of pay-for-performance plans that encourage alternative reward systems. Therefore unlike public sector organizations, private sector organizations are increasingly adopting alternative reward systems in order to boost their competitiveness both locally and internationally. As a result, private companies are emphasizing on the need for cost cutting, corporate restructuring while at the same time boosting employee performance. Public organizations aren’t as profit driven as private enterprises, and therefore prefer using bonuses as their key financial-based reward technique as opposed to commissions. On the contrary, private entities emphasize on pay-for-performance reward system. Nonetheless, regardless of the reward system selected by either public or private organizations the selected system must incorporate both financial-based and other alternative reward systems for it to be effective.

Employees in both public and private entities can be motivated through job promotions and lateral moves. Job promotions represent long term rewards that duly recognize employees’ professional growth, expertise, and capacity to take up new roles. Job promotions are usually tied to salary increases, whereby the increase must be within a 5% range of the worker’s current salary while those earning less than $25,000 base salary can receive an increment of up to $1,250 (Clemmer, 2004). Furthermore, the new salary increment must fall within the approved salary range for the position. Moreover, employees must complete a 90-day probationary period following the promotion.

Supervisors perform pertinent functions of developing and motivating their employees. The greatest challenge faced by public administration managers is the lack of flexibility in the public administration to reward employee performance using financial-based rewards. This is particularly because public institutions often operate on tight budgetary allocations and lack proper financial-based reward structures. Thus bonuses and commissions are used by private entities to reward employees with exemplary performance. In addition, job promotions are used to reward employees who due to their professional excellence, contribute immensely to the organizational development. On the contrary, public officers find it difficult to use job promotions to reward workers due to bureaucracy and cronyism that is inherent in public organizations. Additionally, managers and supervisors in public administration positions find it difficult to financially reward best performers due to public ethics Act and other existing legislations whose provisions restrict financial rewards. It has therefore become common practice for public administration supervisors to use other alternative reward systems rather than financial-based reward systems.

In conclusion, the use of employee motivation techniques and specifically financial-based rewards such as bonuses, commissions and job promotions in public administration entities works differently for professional workers and low level contingent workers. These differences arise primarily due to their diversity in terms of needs, perceptions of desirable rewards and abilities. In fact, different motivational theories have attempted to explain how these differences affect employees’ motivation from different perspectives. Therefore public administration managers ought to employ different approaches to motivate these two groups. Therefore, as a result of these differences, public administration employees can be motivated using different techniques other than financial-based rewards such as on-job challenges, provision of work autonomy as well as providing performance feedbacks to motivate professional workers. To effectively motivate low level workers, dependent workers, techniques such as pay increase, permanent employment status after certain time on the job and opportunities for professional development.

References

1. Accel-Team.com (2004), Employee motivation, the organizational environment and productivity.
2. DeMatteo, J. S., Eby, L. T., & Sundstrom, E. (1998). Team-based rewards: current empirical evidence and directions for future research. Research in Organizational Behavior, 20, 141-183.
3. Diener, E., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2002). Will money increase subjective well-being? a literature review and guide to needed research. Social Indicators Research, 57, 119-169.
4. Heneman, R. L. (1992). Merit pay: linking pay increases to performance ratings. New York: Addison-Wesley.
5. Honeywell-Johnson, J. A., & Dickinson, A. M. (1999). Small group incentives: a review of the literature. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 19, 89-120.
6. Jenkins, Jr, G. D., Mitra, A., Gupta, N., & Shaw, J. D. (1998). Are financial incentives related to performance? A meta-analytic review of empirical research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 777-787.
7. Kasser, T. (2002). The high price of materialism. Massachusetts: MIT Press
8. Kasser, T., & Ahuvia, A. (2002). Materialistic values and well-being in business students. European Journal of Social Psychology, 32, 137-146.
9. Kasser, T., & Kasser, V. G. (2001). The dreams of people high and low in materialism. Journal of Economic Psychology, 22, 693-719.
10. Milkovich, G. T., & Wigdor, A. K. (Eds). (1991). Pay for performance: evaluating performance appraisal and merit pay. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
11. Nickerson, C., Schwarz, N., Diener, E., & Kahneman, D. (2001). The American dream: the dark side is in the wish, not the realization. Psychological Science, 14, 531-536.
12. Perry, J. L., Mesch, D., & Paarlberg, L. (2006). Motivating employees in a new governance era: the performance paradigm revisited. Public Administration Review, 66, 505-514. (Accessed on September 6th, 2008 at spanet.org/scriptcontent/custom/staticcontent/t2pdownloads/PerryArticle.pdf
13. Sirgy, J. M. (1998). Matherialism and quality of life. Social Indicators Research, 43, 227-260.
14. Srivastava, A., Locke, E. A. and Bartol, K. M. (2001). Money and subjective well-being it’s not the money, it’s the motives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 959-971.
15. Stajkovic, A. D., & Luthans, F. (1997). A meta-analysis of the effects of organizational behavior modification on task performance, 1975-1995. Academy of Management Journal, 40, 1122-1149.
16. Stajkovic, A. D., & Luthans, F. (2003). Behavioral management and task performance in organizations: conceptual background, meta-analysis, and test of alternative models. Personnel Psychology, 56, 155-194.
17. Tolchinsky, P. D., & King, D. C. (1980). Do goals mediate the effects of incentives on performance? Academy of Management Review, 5, 455-467.
18. Welbourne, T. M., & Gomez Mejia, L. R. (1995). Gainsharing: a critical review and a future research agenda. Journal of Management, 21, 559-609.
19. Anonymous, (1998), Beware the six dangerous myths about compensation, IOMA's Pay for Performance Report. New York: Dec 1998. Vol. 98, Iss. 12; pg. 1-4.

20. Bolchover, D. (2005) The Living Dead: Switched Off, Zoned Out - The Shocking Truth About Office Life. Oxford, Capstone Publishing Limited.
21. 'Merrily on High' - 28th December 2006 article from People Management magazine from the Chartered Institution of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
Published: 2009-10-02
Author: Sapard Vincent-de Paul Mozes Tshimankinda N. KALALA
About the author or the publisher
-International Counsel & LAW SOCIETY OF UPPER CANADA and Ghana (Barrister - Solicitor)
-BA, BS, MA, LLB, LLD, MBA & PhD
President-Founder of NPPPC in D R Congo
www.npppc.org

Can Google Continue To Give The Competition A Run For Their Money?

We have all sat back and witnessed the boom of the Pay Per Click revolution in the past decade. The paid search ad sector produced a 33.2% gain in spending in 2005. Can these statistics continue to rise?

Internet Research Corporation eMarketer Inc. predicts that paid search ad spending will only increase by 26.2% in the US for 2006, but has projected that it will still reach $10 billion by 2009.

Spectators could see this cool off in growth rates coming and Google is also feeling the impact. Google's Chief Financial Officer, George Reyes commented in February on the decline stating, "clearly our growth rates are slowing" due to the "law of large numbers." (eMarketer) Yes, what goes up must come down.

Yet other issues continue to daunt including the menace of click fraud and consumer privacy concerns. eMarketer's Senior Analyst David Hallerman said, "No doubt about it - all is not rosy in the search business...concerns about click fraud and privacy are two sticking points that will potentially chip away at, if not halt, the growth of search engine marketing." (eMarketer)

The continual rises in percentages of paid search ad revenue year after year have led many to believe that this party can't go on forever. But, it's not over! Search engine marketing is just on the verge of gradually stabilizing over the next few years. Now competition will be under pressure to enhance and sophisticate their products in order to keep paid search ads as a continual driving force in the Internet advertising arena.

Paid search ads are Google's primary source of revenue. Therefore, they will have to come up with options to offset the dilemma they are facing. Does Google have any new tricks up their sleeve?

Yes, they have two major projects in the making.

· Supermarket Sweep - A "virtual supermarket" currently in beta testing. This will be an eventful development due to the fact that Google has always been known as a classified ads service targeted at consumers. Google will now be entering into the ring with retail establishments like Amazon and eBay.

· Ads to appear on Google Local Maps - Allows businesses to buy graphical advertisements. When users search for types of businesses, in addition to the pinpoint that indicates where a shop is located they will see a small graphic icon which when clicked on will show the company logo, address, phone number and comment section. They are marked as sponsored ads which are also placed in text form at the bottom of the search results in the left-hand column. Advertisers are charged for click throughs.

Google is still expected to represent 57% of all paid search ad expending in the US in 2006. Once again prevailing as the great contender in paid search ads and will continue to be a major attraction in world economy expecting to pull in $11.8 billion in 2007 up from the expected $9.3 billion for 2006.


Copyright © 2006 Affiliated Publishing


Published: 2006-04-01
Author: Treci Cauthen
About the author or the publisher
Treci Cauthen: Owner of Affiliated Publishing focused on SEO, health & fitness, travel and creative copywriting. Prior experience in
proofreading, research and data entry/processing. I guarantee prompt, efficient, error proof work and all content is original. I look forward to working with you!
www.naturalcures.bravehost.com

Stepping Out Of the Norm Of Conventional Strategic Marketing

We are gradually stepping into a new age of advertising. Television commercials have gone from 18", black and white, ideological portrayals of the traditional family. Displaying a simple expression just enough to say "we have arrived."

Today we are boldly stomping into the 21st Century of 64", color, flat screen tv's with messages that declare that there is no limit to our capabilities as a human race when dealing as one collective mind.

Technology is wowing us, ingenious writers are tickling our funny bones and psychological marketing is expanding every day. But what's next?

Can creative marketing images and ideas be placed in the mind that grab the attention of the commoner as well as the elite? Can impressions be made on the brain that stick like glue having been transferred to the public all during the sleep process?

Ida Gottit the Chief Executive of American Marketry Association commented, "One third of your life is spent sleeping. That is a wasted third, in our eyes.” (eMarketer)

There is no doubt that we can learn a lot about ourselves and others through the dream process. For example studies show that some don't dream in color or just aren't able to remember the one outstanding color that is usually present in the dream. Those who are able to remember the majority of the time see one of three colors, red, blue or black. Where in can lay the importance of the message.

· Red represents - excitement, adventure
· Blue - tranquility, peace, calm
· Black - intimidation, fear, danger

With that in mind let us check out what scientists and marketers are claiming could be the new phenomenon in dreaming.

Welcome to the new era of in-sleep advertising similar to product placement in movies and video games today. Where already big name corporations like Coca Cola, Speedo and Nike have begun to tap into this new element which is still in its beginning phase but spending is expected to grow in the US to more than $3 billion in the next 15 years up from less than one million in 2005.

"One has to remember that brain activity is simply electrical charges. We've been able to successfully translate an advertising message into an electrical charge," said Professor Ivan Nydea, Chief Scientist of In-Sleep. (eMarketer)

In the near future all in-sleep subjects will have a process performed on them to insert an implant called a nanobot (a robot about the size of a blood cell) into the area of the brain where dreams arise - the pons in the brainstem. When the chip is in place, it behaves like a wireless base-station, sending and receiving signals from other nanobots.

Before retiring for bed the subject is required to place a small device in their ear kindred to a cochlear implant. When the subject moves into REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, the implant is activated and a nanobot containing the designated advertising message is delivered into the spiral artery of the ear then through the cochlear canal. When it reaches the blood brain barrier, it is arranged to wirelessly send an electrical signal (the advertisement) to the nanobot located in the pons. That nanobot accepts the signal, sources the appropriate neuroreceptor and inserts the ad.

The implant transmits wirelessly with the ad server connected to the Internet so new ads can be adjusted to each subject and delivered at a REM phase. Being that adults move in and out of REM four to five times a night, this procedure is repeated throughout an evening's sleep causing the message to be identified in the long-term making in-sleep advertising efficient due to repetition.

As we leap into the coming years we can look forward to this extraordinary concept of in-sleep advertising which is likely to raise a few eyebrows!

Copyright © 2006 Affiliated Publishing

Published: 2006-04-01
Author: Treci Cauthen
About the author or the publisher
Treci Cauthen: Owner of Affiliated Publishing focused on SEO, health & fitness, travel and creative copywriting. Prior experience in
proofreading, research and data entry/processing. I guarantee prompt, efficient, error proof work and all content is original. I look forward to working with you!
www.naturalcures.bravehost.com

The Business of Influencing

We are all in the business of influencing.

If you're working for an advertising agency or any of its related disciplines, that is the case without a doubt. But whatever line of work you're in—whether you're the CEO of a multinational company or a volunteer firefighter in Chinatown—the job will for sure involve some kind of influencing.

It then goes without saying that we are all influencers but because man is a social animal, he too is influenced by others. And one way of tracing how human civilization developed is to find out who influenced who. The first millennium of mankind's history witnessed individuals who shaped the destiny of various nations while a few notorious ones brought great hardships. Now that we are in the second millennium, it is of interest what the new influencers has in store for the hip and ultra-tech generation.

From the dawn of time, men have looked up to something or someone to gain a sense of who they are and their place in the scheme of life. Famous personalities, in particular, have been the barometers—self-appointed or not—of how common people behave. This fact is more apparent now in this age of multimedia mania. Basically there's virtually no place that can't be reached by the gyrating of a Latin singing sensation or the rhetoric of a sweet-talking politician.

These individuals, by virtue of their social stature and sheer talent, have become celebrities. There’s Madonna, who—despite the enormous accomplishments and notoriety she has already achieved—just keeps on going like an unstoppable dynamo. Heir-apparent, Britney Spears, is showing great potential as well. Other Hollywood stars like Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts and filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg continue to make their presence felt. In the local scene, the indestructible Sharon Cuneta and the controversial Kris Aquino are household names and you have to be from Constellation Lyra not to know them.

In the world of sports, there’s no question of the influence that Shaquille O`Neil and other NBA giants have on aspiring young athletes the world over. Even Michael Jordan who came out from a much-hyped retirement is still a figure to contend with. The football arena which is usually associated with Latin America and Europe are steadily breaking new grounds. In Asia, South Korea and Japan are hotbeds of talents like Hidetoshi Nakata whose stature is rivaling Beckham’s and Ronaldo’s. Filipino sportsmen, where art thou? Oh, yes…Manny Pacquiao. Iba ang Pinoy!

Politics? That cesspool is a veritable source of maggots. But let us mention the names of the few good men and the not-so-good-bordering-on-incompetent politicians. Vladimir Putin, the less charismatic successor of the colorful Boris Yeltsin is now leading Mother Russia to a new era after 9-11. Jordanian King Abdullah’s taste for populism is evident when he goes out to public in disguise as he tries to herald a moderate government to a region where the opposite is the norm. For the other group, George Bush and Panfilo Lacson lead the wolves’pack. `Nuff said.

Finally, the working class. Throughout the 90s, dot-com entrepreneurs, investment bankers and venture capitalist were emulated because of the millions they rake in. Then the heroic efforts of New York emergency personnel during the 9-11 attacks suddenly made people re-evaluate their priorities. Faceless yet collective in power, these ordinary people may yet prove to be the real force to reckon with. Teddy Casino and Satur Ocampo…read and learn.

But are people the only influencers? The unenlightened may say yes but this view is incorrect. Another history lesson to remember: the human condition is developed by three interconnected factors and these are the events, the players and the places. The latter is by far the most ignored aspect and this risks incomplete judgment. We should always remember that people are influenced by the environment they live in.

Already more than 300 years old, multi-ethnic United States of America started out as refuge for the religiously persecuted Puritans of England. Now, its form of government, economic system and national lifestyle has been duplicated all over the world. Other multicultural nodes such as Australia, France and Malaysia are also magnets to people in search of better lives.

Japan, the land of electronic what’s-its and great sushi, may be in an economic rut right now but it has a lot more to offer. Read: those visually-stimulating Japanese animations, robo-dogs and outlandish teenage fashion which are putting young people spellbound. With the perennial stand-off between Western and Islamic nations, Turkey—a secular government with an overwhelmingly Muslim population—may find its position as a bridge towards greater understanding between peoples. Other countries, by virtue of the cultural hegemony they have over a vast area of land, like Indonesia, China and Spain (via Latin America) are hot places to be in right now.

Things too can exert influence to people on varying degrees. Humans have a predilection of attaching themselves to an object which has grown fond to them because of its usefulness and appeal. Through habitual use, this results to the development of a behavior or character trait. Today, highly-technological media objects dominate the scene. Sometimes, objects like a newspaper & TV may come to represent an institution from which great influence can emanate.

The Philippines has long been mesmerized by the finger muscle-challenging exercise that is SMS or text messaging. Meanwhile, as cellphone manufactures are getting hyper about fancy WAP applications and next-generation technology, the rest of the world has only recently come to terms with this relatively humdrum feature. Talk about delayed reaction. MP3, a file format which allows for the download of music via the Internet, is also making raves despite Napster’s fate. Now, almost everybody has the means to appropriate the reproduction and distribution of music.

Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based TV station, shot to international fame when it broadcasted the scoop on Osama bin Laden. For a long time, Al Jazeera is the only broadcaster in the region to air real political debates and controversies. Its influence is only exceeded by the number of complaints it has received. For our part, ABS-CBN has truly evolved to become a powerful media conglomerate regardless of the negative vibes we associate from this Lopez brainchild.

And of course, let’s not forget, with the latest special effects technology in filmmaking, there’s hardly anything that Hollywood can't do. It has been a rollercoaster ride for movie buffs since the first Star Wars movie opened in 1977. A whole new world was practically ushered in where make-believe characters and whimsical places tickle our fancy. To top it all, the critics and award-giving bodies are happy of this development. Remember Titanic and Gladiator?

Lest anyone mistake this article as the last word on the subject of influence, I'm taking the opportunity to say that it isn't. Every second, an idea is born. That idea will influence people to take on certain actions that will in turn shape societies. Those societies will later on produce individuals who shall lead, entertain and educate. This is the spiral of influence, not circle. A progressive spiral which gets bigger and bigger until it becomes an all-encompassing entity that touches lives, creates new ones and changes history forever.

So the question is not really a matter of who gets influenced by whom. At the end of the day, everybody gets influenced and gets to influence as well. So resist not the lady who coaxes you to boogie woogie, or fear the man who declares war to an imagined axis of evil, or hide the urge to text-in your inner most emotions to a loved one. The important thing is you have expressed yourself and felt the humanity inside.
Published: 2006-04-29
Author: Royce Ambrocio
About the author or the publisher
The author has been writing professionally for 10 years now across various industries: TV, print, advertising, and online commerce. He

Sponsorship in sports

Sponsorship is one of the ways to build your brand through sports as millions of people are attach to sports, and they will be viewing the logo or the name of the sponsored company on their respected sports stars apparel or belongings and television is such a medium, where million of millions viewer watches the matches of different sports, taking place anywhere in the world, sponsors buys the air-time to show their respected advertisement with sports star in lead.

Sponsors invest billions of dollars on Star performer and to the board, which control the sport stars i.e. for example, some of the leading games of the world are Cricket, Soccer, Rugby, Hockey, Golf and many more.

We can find many sponsors having healthy competition to get the control of sponsorship right of the sports by filling the amount on tender issued by the respected board and the winner who has penned maximum bid will get the right of sponsoring, TV right of the schedule matches, which is schedule to take place in any part of the world; sometime the sponsors do have competition, which is healthy and unhealthy, the unhealthy competition is somewhat very bad thing in sports as politics in the respected headquarter of sports plays an bad role, as millions of dollars and viewers are attached to the game.

Huge amount is spending on players. The contracts, sponsorships and endorsements must be working well because there seems to be no end in site as to how many of these companies will pay for these top athletes to wear their logos.

The company signs contract with the players to wear their company logos on their apparel, cap, gloves, helmet, player's kit bag etc. The amount varies from player to player, as who ever performs well he gets more attention from the masses and so the leading and giant company will like to rope them with company's contract.

The leading and prominent companies pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to wear a certain shirt made by them for players, with logo of the company stitched on it, the motive behind this process is very simple, and many people will see the living and walking advertising banner of the company and in return more high-end retail sales.

Therefore people get much more interest on the product, which their sports idols is endorsing or wearing, in short they will and like to follow their sports idol footsteps. Even the shareholder start buying the share of the companies as it turns out to be hot brand.

In this way sponsors, player and the governing board of respected individual sports get their share.
Published: 2006-12-25
Author: Dhanraj Chakraborty
About the author or the publisher
I am content writer/editor. Dhanraj Chakraborty

Passion at work

At 21 I decided advertising was my calling. I made a list of the top five agencies and made a beeline for an interview with anyone who was willing to give me a few minutes.

In a heart beat I fell in love with the organization, the managers and my peers. I thought my job was akin to saving the world. Everyday was a new experience. Even filing was a mystery waiting to be unraveled,-the u-pins go on the papers in a particular way (long side at the back and the short side in the front) -”Don’t you know that?” asked my unit secretary. Feeling absolutely under informed about this simple task I actually questioned myself why I didn’t know!. Till date when I use a u-pin I replay this incident in my head.

Four years down the line after numerous U-pin like episodes, my love for the job had waned. I no longer wanted to be there and do the same stuff. I couldn’t get down to figuring why.

Good work profile? Check. Good organization? Check. Fast track career path? Check. Still want to quit? Check!!

I wanted out and fast .I no longer wanted to be part of this industry, and I see that happening to many of my peers who have entered at the same time as I did, or even a little later.

I realised that I had fallen out of love. It was the same thing over and over again, and I could see the future, me in my manager’s place dealing with what I was dealing with today-different year same shit.

So what happened? I didn’t have any particular burning ambition to do something else or was being done against.

This is a common syndrome amongst most young professionals “I‘m bored“. Work suddenly starts to look like work and we decide to throw in the towel and look to another organization in hope that the excitement will return.
The thing is, its never going to happen on its own, wherever you go history will repeat itself.

The only way to avoid the fatigue is to make work a part of your life, not make work your life. Learn a new language, join a dance class-the only reason why you want to go back to your college days is because of one simple thing: everyday you learnt something new

Make your life a cascade of first time experiences and its guaranteed you’ll never get bitten by the “I’m bored” bug.
Published: 2007-01-12
Author: Kavita Shenoy
About the author or the publisher
Ex-advertising professional.Seeking new career in writing about everything and anything.

Barcode Maker

Barcode labeling and image building application provide a cost effective and powerful solution to generate barcode in either random or sequential order of input string as per user required. Barcode generator software support various barcode standard font file including code39, code93, interleaved 2of5, code128 (SET A, B, C), Postnet, Codabar, planet, USS-93, UPSC Stack Label, ITF-14, LOGMARS, ISBN 13 and UPSC Tray Label. Barcode tracker program produce barcode of all upper case (A, B, C…) and lower case (a, b, c…) alphabets, numbers (1, 2, 3…) and special characters (@, &, $, % etc).

Software facilitate user to change look and feel of generated barcode as modify their text color, background color, text size and alignment. User can save generated barcode in picture file format at user specified location or print on paper using normal printer. Barcode builder program works with all laptop or desktop computer having Microsoft windows operating system including all Vista editions and useful in various small and big business like retailers, manufactures, shipping, packaging, departmental store, transport and many more.

Freeware barcode image generator application develop high resolution barcode image files and provides option to you for developing your own style barcode labels and asset tags in minimal time and affordable price. Barcode label maker software features: * GUI based application generate barcode in just a single click. * Produce barcode of all keyboard character including entire alphabets, numbers and special characters. * Facilitate user to generate barcode in its own style and color. * Uses approximate all barcode standard font file including ISBN 13 and UPSC Tray Label. * Support all windows operating system like 98, 2000, 2003 server, NT, ME and Vista. * Allow to save generated barcode in picture format or print on paper using printer. * Generated barcode can be read by any barcode reader hardware device.

http://www.supperbusiness.com/supperbusiness/drpu-barcode.html
http://www.supperbusiness.com/downloads/barcode-maker-demo.exe
Published: 2009-05-15
Author: Business solution
About the author or the publisher
Business solution
www.supperbusiness.com

Engagement Marketing

‘Sorry for the interruption’ – Engagement Marketing

‘Why do companies make ads? So you can use the break to fill your bowl of popcorn’. Says a recent TV ad for Act II. You may argue that some ads are entertaining and some very informative but the truth is that advertising has traditionally always relied on interruption and that is fast beginning to lose it effectiveness.

Ad overdose: An average Indian consumer is exposed to an ad every 2 minutes on a channel, 25 ads and 100 classifieds in a newspaper, 2 ad spots for every song on radio and about 35 hoardings in a 1 km stretch. Add to that the innumerable posters, kiosks and bus shelters. While on the internet the pop-ups & banners flash faster than you can close them. It’s a cat-fight for a brand stand out in this clutter.

Power to pause: I’m sure you remember the Tata Sky ad where Aamir Khan, chats on the phone during a match because he can pause and resume viewing it. And we know he will definitely fast-forward the ads on resumption. So would we. Also soon, for a slight premium you will be able to get programs/movies on-demand without ad breaks. The potential customer now has the power to zap the ad

Sliced-up media pie: From the earlier staple DD diet, you now have about 360 channels. The Hindi GEC genre itself has expanded exponentially to 14. Then there are 5 English news and 10 Hindi news channels, 4 English business new channels, 8 sports channels, 10 music channels and the Add to this the regional channels and niche channels as well. Oh don’t forget the new newspapers & multiple supplements, magazines, a plethora of me-too radio channels, piled-up outdoor signages and the infinite internet sites. The viewer has become a highly confused & flirtatious media surfer, making the scenario a media planners nightmare.

Astronomical costs: It takes deep pockets to generate the required ad brand awareness and get customer response, as the lead mass media options are extremely expensive. A single 30 sec ad on the recent T20 World Cup costs Rs.6 lacs, while a single ad on the top serials on Star Plus would set you back 3 lacs and a full page ad in the Mumbai edition of TOI costs 20lacs. And a prime spot hoarding would cost Rs.10lacs a month. It would take a brand at least an 8Cr budget to get heard, never mind being remembered.

The big challenge that brands face today is how to create a memorable connect with the consumer in a cost-effective manner. And a few brands have already successfully revised their marketing & media strategy.

A few years ago, ICICI, to promote their Children’s Growth Fund, held a painting competition in schools for kids with the topic ‘What you want to be when you grow up?’. Father’s were then sent their own kids painting with a note saying ‘Soon your kid will grow up & want to convert her dream to reality. Are you prepared?’ And a no-obligations opportunity to meet up with the ICICI advisor. To increase it’s aspiration quotient against L’Oreal, Lakme ventured into fashion and created the premium Lakme Fashion Week property, while Sunsilk has engaged teenage girls by creating a virtual community ‘GangOfGirls.com. And more recently TOI with its Lead India campaign connected with people through a cause, so did Tata Tea the ‘jaago ‘initiative for the elections.

So while mass media cannot be ignored, brands should get out of the traditional ad approach and get into the fabric of the consumer’s life by giving him multi-media content he can enjoy and value, thus welcoming and imbibing it. The mantra is simple rules:
- Get out of the usual ad break and into the world of value-added content & properties
- Engage the consumer through an activation programs that enhance his life
- Embrace new-age media & technology to build interaction with the consumer

And many erstwhile Event Management agencies have evolved to capitalize on this opportunity, by hiring brand consultants & strategic planners.
In order to be relevant and effective in the future, brands will have to change their communication strategy from ‘Interruption’ to Engagement’

Published: 2009-07-15
Author: Rohan Mascarenhas
About the author or the publisher
Over a decade in the Advertising business, planning brand strategy, unearthing consumer insights and handling client idoecyncracies. I also spend my Saturdays imparting knowledge on Brand Planning to students at a Management Institute.

Use videos to top the chart : 5 sure shot strategies

The latest buzzword in internet marketing is the use of video technique to pull visitors in and ultimately converting them to confirmed buyers or clients. Videos can pull people to your site in bunches. In this information age, everyday new horizons are being discovered in the internet marketing arena, among them use of video is a fabulous and sure shot method to get loads of links and customers. Videos help you to get more organic links in the first page of the results in a search engine. It is a very effective method to pull in visitors and get higher rates of conversion.

For example, your team has hosted 200 videos at YouTube catching 3000 daily views, 600 of them goes to the target site via the links posted in your videos, which means you have got a 20% click through rate which is a nice figure. Even a conversion rate of 10% at this stage means 60 confirmed buyers from that website. So, just imagine the power of videos in internet marketing.

Here we present five super strategies to improve search visibility using video:

Strategy no.1

Your videos should be relevant & useful. Always knit them with HTML.
The first step is to determine the most effective keywords. If one puts up a video after carefully researching keywords and embeds it into a keyword optimized page, then he has a very high chance of getting shown up in a search result.
The videos should be cleverly and clearly relevant to the content present in the target website. They should resemble the catch line in an advertising campaign.

Strategy no.2

Professionalism and precision is the key to success in video marketing
Each of your video should work towards building a long term stable business relationship with the visitors. That involves trust generation. Your videos must be messengers of trust to grab the attention of visitors. The visitors should get the impression that the video has got something for him. In the business world everyone looks for profit. Your video must be self explanatory to convince the visitor that he will not leave empty handed after investing more time in it. Since the market is flooded with all types of materials, so your video must present itself in a unique and professional manner. Once a visitor is turned off by poor quality of your video then it will be pretty tough for you to get his confidence back in your scheme of things. So always try to be accurate with the information in the video, the language should be clear and loud.
A three minute is ideal to hold the attention of a visitor and force him to go to the target site. Therefore, the video content must be concise, clear and strictly to the point, no dramas.

Use insight from YouTube
Insight is an analytics tool provided by YouTube to account holders to monitor the performances of their videos. You can use the tool to track which video attributes contribute to a high number of views and attention. Attention is a metric measured by Insight, and it can be high, medium, or low.

Editing

Insight has an inbuilt feature that enables users to monitor changes in the attention metric at different points. By using this feature, you can track drops in the audience's concentration and amend the video accordingly.

Strategy no.3

Keyword research is vital while creating videos
Extensive fieldwork should be conducted to draw out the keywords related to the design and content of the target website. Only then you should proceed with the video creation part.
Try to hit upon effective, descriptive and high density keywords.

Strategy no.4

Go in groups
Two is always better than one. This applies to video marketing too. Try to always go in groups. Shoot a good number of related pieces followed by proper keyword research and then post them in YouTube together. Related videos or results always attract visitors. So if you come up with several related videos then chances are many that a lot among them will show up in the related videos link. Moreover it is better to use several video pieces to attempt a campaign in its entirety.

Strategy no.5

Branding
The videos should be carefully branded with its target site. But care must be taken so as to avoid over use of branding, otherwise it may lead to negative effects. The position and frequency of branding depends upon the nature, focus and duration of the video.
Published: 2009-09-13
Author: mrinal ali hazarika