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Archive for the ‘Business’ Category
Cutting budgets without destroying morale
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
Believe it or not it is possible to cut budgets without upsetting your entire organization. Unfortunately, budget cuts are part of business - especially in the economic times we have been experiencing lately.
What is the first thing you think of when someone says budget cut? Lay-offs, wage cuts, reduction in benefits? Doesn’t have to be.
David Mammano of Next Step Magazine explains how he cut his budget without his employees trying to overthrow the throne. Next Step employs an open book management philosophy so all employees know every item in the budget - or at least have access to the information. What Mammano decided to do first was to engage his employees. By getting them involved they were part of the decision and would be able to make suggestions that David may not have thought of.
The ideas varied greatly, some proposed waiting to purchase new computers while others suggested asking for volunteers to bake birthday cakes instead of purchasing them. These might seem like small potatoes but in the grand scheme of things they have been estimated to save the company nearly $50,000 per year.
I’ve always been told you get more bees with honey than you do vinegar. Rather than rule with an iron fist and cut costs wherever you can, involve your people, get their suggestions. Granted you won’t be able to follow through with all suggestions but there might be a few good ones that might contribute to the bottom line.
What makes a Star Employee burn brighter – or burn out?
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
Whether you’re an employer or employee you should know what makes a star employee burn brighter or burn out. On the surface employees want the stereotypical benefits; health insurance, paid vacation, a competitive wage and of course other fringe benefits like a company car or cell phone, possibly even discount tickets to sporting events or free travel.
“Even without research, common sense dictates that if you’re keen, committed and involved — and these attitudes are supported, respected, encouraged and rewarded — you’re likely to do a better job.”
What it all boils down to is engagement and motivation. As an employer you must keep your employees engaged. As an employee you must keep yourself engaged. How does this happen? If you don’t know the answer re-read the quote above. As Robin Stuart-Kotze points out, you’re likely to do a better job if your actions are supported, respected, encouraged and rewarded. Again, if you look at the big picture all of these items are derived out of motivation. If an employer motivates, the employee becomes engaged, committed and involved. A domino effect really.
Attention employers, don’t be fooled by an employee’s length of time and loyalty with your organization. An employer’s complacency can cost them big time. Research suggests there is a direct negative correlation between an employees engagement and their length of time with the organization; they become less engaged as their time with the organization increases. It has been noted that disengaged employees can cost a firm $13,000 per year in lost productivity. Even if we give each employee the benefit of the doubt and err on the side of conservatism the cost for disengaged employees is still substantial.
What’s the fix you ask? It’s rather simple, be kind and care. Look what Herb Kelleher has done with Southwest Airlines. The average Southwest Airlines employee is engaged and it shows in their performance relative to other airlines. UPS has management attend a one-month long sensitivity camp to help maintain a high level of engagement amongst their employees.
We know what employees want; we just have to give it to them. Tell your employees they’ve done a good job, acknowledge their achievements (even if you think the accomplishment is immaterial or irrelevant), respect their opinion and give them the opportunity to speak (you never know they might enlighten you at times) and most of all reward them when they’ve done a good job. Rewards don’t always have to come in the form of monetary gain; movie tickets, one-time bonus (large or small), dinner, lunch – show them you care and you noticed.
“People don’t behave like this for no reason — it’s a reaction to the way their jobs are structured and, more importantly, the way they are being managed.”
When employees feel undervalued or insignificant the tendency is to retreat and do less. When this happens it has a detrimental effect on businesses. It lowers morale as a whole, the “disease” is contagious and will affect other employees and eventually will spiral to a complete loss of company-wide morale.
Here is a list compliments of Robin Stuart-Kotze that outlines a few ways to determine if you or your employees are suffering from the “disease”:
- Try to avoid being held solely responsible for things.
- Avoid firm time commitments for getting things done.
- Keep a low profile on issues.
- Distance themselves from others’ failures.
- Avoid sharing information with others.
- Cut themselves off from people at times.
In closing, be more aware of your employee’s attitude or, if you are the employee be more aware of your own attitude. If you sense disengagement don’t be afraid to confront your manager or the employee. Be genuine and care. Ask questions like “what can I do to help you become motivated and more involved” or “I feel undervalued, am I disappointing you?”
More times than not, communication will solve the discrepancy.
Five Business Survival Tips During Recession
Friday, September 5th, 2008
Economic difficulties are prevalent and no one is being spared. Everyone is feeling the ill effects of current market conditions. The housing market and oil prices skyrocketed countless times over the past several months. Most feel that the situation could get worse by 2009. Whether you are an employee or a top-ranking business leader, bare in mind that you may be unable to prevent recession from taking over for a while, but you are always able to look for ways to get by and stay sane long enough to see a brighter time.
Here are some tips that can help you keep your boat afloat as you sail past that economic storm.
- Tap emergency fund and not the fixed expenses allotment. College economic courses have taught you well enough that economies go through cycles of expansion and contraction. Theories however, are a lot easier to learn. Living actual business circumstances especially the agonizing ones, is another matter altogether. Economic depressions are both real and painful; anyone involved in business has to live though it. Start with accepting and managing that expectation and you have solved half the dilemma. Business people who understand that difficult economic events do happen allow for padding that they can touch when hard times come. In other words, these people prepare and are not rattled easily by news of contractions. Cutting corners is always an option though one has to be extremely careful in deciding which is fat and which is muscle.
- Maintain (if unable to increase) your marketing dollars. Marketing expenses should be a fixed expense. Just like what oxygen is to your body, marketing is your business’s way to grow and expand. No matter what happens, decide against cutting marketing budgets. Slow market times are the best times to buy shares in their lowest prices while preserving the shares’ potential payoffs in the future.
- Continue to give and upgrade the best possible product or service you could give to your loyal consumers. Cutting back on spending which could mean either lesser transactions or smaller purchases (or both) are oftentimes a customer’s answer to difficult times as a way to save every possible penny. Give your regulars good reasons (superior quality, excellent customer service, etc.) why they should cut back on everything else but your business.
- Lower prices instead of giving discounts. If you believe that giving discounts will keep your business going, think again. Discounting your products whether in good times or bad, gives consumers the impression of inferior quality. In the 1990’s, McDonalds and Burger King placed their Big Macs and Whoppers on sale, and without intent, they trained their customers to never pay for the full price. The margin problem took years to recuperate. The same thing could happen to your business. If you must, lower the price instead of giving and saying the” d” word.
- Ward off nervous ticks by setting a clear direction and expectation among your employees. Whether or not you tell your people about the bad times, they are bound to know because the news is delivered to them in a very personal manner each day when they buy food from the grocery or when they pay for gas. The best thing that can be done is to come clean and talk to your employees openly about the situation. Educate them in terms of where the company is and what the plan will be. This will help alleviate their fear of the unknown and as a result allow them to continue performing, as they should.
Most importantly, despite the increasing prices of almost everything, remember that humans have needs and will always have to spend on their basic necessities, good times or bad. The only difference between the good and bad times is that it is during an economic crunch that consumers become more critical in letting go of their dollars. Only those who offer the best quality in products and services at the right price can thrive in and survive the neck-to-neck competition.
So What Exactly Is “Cloud Computing”?
Monday, August 25th, 2008
Cloud computing using Google Apps was first patronized by only a handful of staff at Sanmina-SCI (SANM), a company with a $10.7 billion of revenue annually, using the applications to send emails, create documents, and schedule appointments and commitments. After six months, the handful went up to a thousand users of the electronics manufacturing company going online to use Google applications, shunting Microsoft tools to one side.
According to Manesh Patel, the chief information officer of Sanmina-SCI, the Google Apps make a difference between a poorly collaborated cluster and an organized, well-coordinated project teams. He even projected the Google Apps users to increase by 25% (totals 10,000) in the next three years.
Sanmina (which is based in San Jose, California) and Google spearhead a significant shift in the way organizations avail of software and computing capacity as well. Amazon, Salesforce.com, IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft aid corporate clients in exploring the Internet from extra server space down to software which manages customer relationships more effectively.
So What Exactly Is “Cloud Computing”?
The computing tasks (referred to as “cloud computing”) are assigned to a remote location rather than to the company’s own server. Cloud computing services are delivered all over the Internet depending on the demand from massive data centers. A million-dollar enterprise, Merrill Lynch’s estimate is that the annual international demand for cloud computing will be up to $95 billion. Based on May 2008 report, 12% of software market worldwide would choose cloud computing, in fact, IBM, DELL, and Hewlett Packard are looking to shift to cloud computing in the near future. Even IBM professes its willingness to spend $36-M to build cloud computing data center in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Michael Dell, DELL CEO, stresses that they’ve put together a new industry building custom products for customers with specific needs to address.
Question of Reliability
Some companies have qualms regarding the system’s reliability, but Daryl Plummer, managing vice-president of consulting firm Gartner, reasoned that technologies take some time to achieve that perfection which everyone might be looking for. Google Apps as an example might not offer the same features as Microsoft Office Professional, but is effective in maintaining collaborations among employees globally.
Dave Girouard, of Google, stressed that things are not expected to turn out as smoothly or as perfectly as one hopes to be but Patel of Sanmina said that in the long term, it shouldn’t pan out so badly. Girouard noted that more than half of the 500,000 organization use the free version of Google Apps.
Cloud computing might give HR a run for their money because the idea of moving attendance monitoring and expense reporting into Google Apps is something that is explored by Patel. Taking baby steps, as per Patel’s remark coupled with trying lower-priority applications will help them get the results they are aiming for. Cloud computing might not be applicable to storing financial and health records due to rules for security and privacy but a private cloud may be a possibility.
Generally, most feel that the system has to iron out things first before anyone adopts it on larger scale. An upswing in revenue is expected as more companies become more comfortable with the system. Google Apps will be provided for free, too. As Girouard at Google puts it, they intend to “generate millions of users for life”.
A Happy Face: Facebook Remains on Top
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008
What makes for a good social networking website?
Is it the look and feel of the website, the ease of navigation, the tools and features?
For Facebook, it is the pleasant mixture of all three with a slightly more focus on technology-driven tools that has enabled it to overtake its close competitor, MySpace.
The Beginning
Ever since its birth in February 2004, Facebook, the privately owned and operated social networking website has been enticing and accumulating followers, being a free-access website where people from all walks of life can join networks (organized by cities, workplaces, schools, or regions) to interact with others, and to some extent, rekindle old friendships and reconnect past relationships.
Beyond the Face Value
Four years have passed and Facebook has managed to remain virtually on top while undergoing a lot of progress in terms of applications. Starting from an idea (the website’s name came from the “paper facebooks” illustrating members of a campus community that some American colleges and preparatory schools give to incoming students, faculty, or staff aiming to familiarize them with the other people inside the campus) of a then Harvard sophomore student, Mark Zuckerberg, the website turned out to be a major hit as a multi-million dollar enterprise.
Bridging Gaps and Cultural Differences
The CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, describes the impact of Facebook through a story about a group of young militants from Lebanon who have reconciled their views of Western culture by way of Facebook friendships. The story spoke of the free expression of ideas which the World Wide Web allows, thus making people rise above their cultural disparities.
On Expansion and Language Translation
Facebook has reached a great number of users, as it quickly expands to other regions, internationally. In fact, the website stands unruffled to the top as a global social network. The numbers released in August 12 by comScore says it all. There are about 132 million followers of Facebook, 63% of which are outside North America. It helped that the network has been translated to 20 languages such as French, Spanish, and Mandarin. Recently, it has added 69 more languages. The international manager of Facebook, Javier Olivan views this as more than just enabling everyone to understand one another. The translations, according to him, will jumpstart astronomical growth internationally.
Growing and Thriving
To date, Facebook faces tough competition with MySpace and News Corp.’s to name a couple. They not only focus on their local markets, but are also meaning to saturate the global scene to amplify audience growth, thus making them very attractive to advertisers and prospective investors.
MySpace has spread out in 29 countries such as India and Korea. Based on a study from Pingdom, a Swedish website availability monitoring website; it is mostly frequented by users in US, Puerto Rico, Australia, Britain, and even in Asian countries such as Malaysia.
LinkedIn is another social network catering to professionals. According to Pingdom, it is popular in India, Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, and US.
Despite all these, a staggering 153% increase in new members last June has thrown other social networks off-balance, in terms of the website’s success through a purely user adoption.
Tech-Savvy Socialization
Facebook proved to have more ease conquering the international market through its technology-driven strategy. The social network boasts of translation tools, enabling users to take their existing sites and personalize them using their native tongue. The tools proved to offer very accurate translations, setting it apart from the other social network websites. The senior analyst of comScore, Andrew Lipsman, said that it is indeed, a very scalable process, with the audience’s number multiplying really fast.
MySpace on the other hand follows a different route. Facebook’s close rival opens offices in countries where ad dollars and friends are probable. This strategy definitely slows down their expansion internationally but this approach is deemed to be a surefire way to better reflect the cultures of new countries while racking up dollars from advertisers, too. Soon, according to Jeff Berman, MySpace’s president of sales and marketing, MySpace’s non-US users will cover half or 50 percent of the its total revenue.
Hi5 language translation tool applications strategy resembles that of Facebook’s, except that this social network from San Francisco initially hired a third-party service provider, Lionsbridge, to translate the social network to languages such as Japanese. This strategy increased its popularity, making the base users amount to a hefty 56 million. According to Pingdom, the site remains immensely popular in Latin America.
More Possibilities
The Facebook executives, though focused at present on the website’s tools, have not closed their doors on the possibility of opening offices in other countries to make their website more culturally-relevant, similar to the strategy employed by MySpace. Right now however, Olivan stresses that as long as there are users, advertisers will continue to create campaigns and put ads on their sites, making Facebook remain universal.
SportsFanLive: Not Your Ordinary Social Network
Friday, August 22nd, 2008
Former executive David Katz may have already left his post as the head of sports, entertainment and studios in Yahoo.com in 2006, but he never really left what he has always cared about and loved to do: write about sports and offer something relevant to sports enthusiasts.
A Healthy Competition
At age 36, Katz will wage war against the other Internet powerhouses such as ESPN, Yahoo, Fox Sports, Major League Baseball, and AOL with his website, sportsfanlive.com. Sportsfanlive.com is looking to be released within the week, boasting of Katz’s versions of customized contents, social networking, and even fantasy games. Katz felt that the other competitors have become a lot more complicated and difficult to navigate, so sportsfanlive.com is what he thought would enjoy quite a good number of followers.
Everything But Traditional
What sets sportsfanlive.com apart from the rest is that it is built for the next generation and with their evolving needs in mind. Katz stressed that the other sports websites have what he calls the “traditional media DNA”, fooling around with the site here and there but keeping them basically the same and generic.
Six months of planning in his Hollywood Hills abode have made him very positive and confident that the website is up to the challenge. The site’s features are naturally-flowing, allowing a visitor to create a community which is projected to have a viral growth. SportsFanLive is aimed to become the sports enthusiast’s Facebook, rather than connect to existing social networking websites.
Similar to MyESPN and MyYahoo, the users can customize their site, mixing in together the teams they love and hate. Additionally, the users will receive news from 4500 aggregated sources which are regularly updated.
The Secret Sauce
Katz believed that aggregation will be SportsFanLive’s secret weapon. Because unlike Google, which is definitely useful in searching for general needs of visitors, it has no clear perception of the specific sports needs of sports fans.
Through the FanFeed feature, sports-minded pals can easily share articles with one another or they can opt to use FanFinder application to alert their sports buddies to sports bars where they come together to cheer on their favorite teams. FanFinder is a zip code and map -based function which is a visual update of forums on rivals.com (which happens to be a Yahoo subsidiary).
A Sports Facebook
Katz also commented that SportsFanLive aimed to be everyone else’s Facebook, at least for the sports enthusiasts, that is. According to him, without a doubt, Facebook is commendable for doing a really good job at connecting people all over the globe, but like Google, Facebook is not specifically geared towards sports-related matters. The site aims to be apart from the other social networking websites by keeping sports their focal point.
Traditional fantasy games are out of the question at this point as he feels that fans may not have a lot of time to tend to season-long fantasy games.
Gaming Features
SportsFanLive offers gaming features that will enable them to challenge one another by posting or accepting wagers (this is akin to an online casino sports book which is user-generated) allowing them to either earn or lose Buxbets (SportsFanLive’s version of funny money). The feature is interesting (“they can compete on any topic they want against anyone at any time”) because he designed it based on the assumption that fans like to test their wits about anything they felt they know best.
Mouse Voting
Jeff Price, Sports Illustrated Group president for digital, commented that Katz may very well understand and know sports fans’ hearts, but he has misgivings on how SportsFanLive can sustain traffic and engagements. Voting depends on a sports fan’s mouse. Price also noted how interesting it is the way people can embrace the games made available to them.
An analyst for Jupiter Research, Bobby Tulsiani remarked that if Katz succeeded in his plan, he would be similar to other new web entrants who will defy the pioneers in existing categories. The recent research on Internet sports users showed that evidence is yet to be confirmed regarding sports fans who wanted to switch to other online sports space.
Full of Hope
Katz’s belief on his success remained unfazed. SportsFanLive may be self-funded for the time being, but then, he is positive that individual investors will be interested though he put off dropping a name for now. Samsung though, has already signed on as an early sponsor of Katz’s project.
He is happy to note that sports fans may not see it at present, but soon, they’ll realize that SportsFanLive is something they just have to use and will be unable to live without.
Dare to Defy: Counterprogramming Works!
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
In an industry where it is a dog eats dog battle, it is crucial to come up with a marketing strategy that will make your wares sellable, if monopolizing a target market is not an option.
How does one set his products or services apart from the rest? Take a leaf out of Universal Pictures, Carl’s Jr., and Southwest Airlines’ book and try counterprogramming.
Counterprogramming operates under the assumption that a particular product or service has a target market. Rarely does one encounter a product that answers everyone’s needs. Therefore, there is always a need to fill and address, and with filling that void comes your target market.
Timing may also be a key. When a competitor launches a product or a service, a counter to that product or service may be presented, too. Consumers would always need an option and would welcome a refreshing one at that.
Starting for example with the case of Universal Pictures which chose to show Mamma Mia amidst the hype of Batman: The Dark Knight, Universal Pictures saw the possibility that the older, female demographic would not be as thrilled as the young, male audience to see Batman hurrying off to free Gotham. They would probably prefer Meryl Streep’s hilarity of having to solve the riddle of her daughter’s paternity (her daughter who is a would-be bride had three alleged fathers).
Counterprogramming is another avenue opened to competitors to offer an alternative when another competitor’s creation is less appealing. For example, the proliferation of fast food fare coupled with Morgan Spurlock’s 2004 documentary “Super Size Me” gave McDonald a run for their money. To repair the damage, McDonald and Taco Bell started offering slightly healthier fare (not that any fast food is really healthy). Crusades against trans fat and fast food restaurants sprouted up faster than one can say “fast food”, causing a ban against them. Despite the growing resistance to the fast food way of life, there were still those who craved “real [fast] food”.
This made Carl Jr. tout its own sandwiches, in terms of size and sloppiness, to tap the once big market for fast food. The result is a 730-calorie, 47-fat-grams Monster Breakfast Sandwich, tagged as “Breakfast as Big as Our Burgers”. Up to this day, Carl Jr. continues to serve and feed the hungry stomachs of young men.
Southwest Airlines follows a different lead but with a similar tactic. While most airlines would charge for every single thing a passenger would ask for during a flight, Southwest Airlines is very proud to say that “Fees Don’t Fly with Us”. Never charging for second suitcase, snacks, a choice to sit in a window seat, pillows or blankets, bottles of water, and fuel (though most airlines would disguise it under the term “surcharge”), the airline racked up more dollars than those who do.
The bottom line of counterprogramming is to make your ware different so it would stand out. Put more items for consumption than frills. Sell to an untapped market (a market where there is only a few selection or a narrow array of choices), allow for something (this really depends on your own considerations) that others will not allow. One man’s loss is another man’s gain anyway.
Going against the flow may just give you the sales that you are aiming for. If you like more risks, do not only take the road less traveled; instead, blaze new trails. You will never know what treasures you might unearth.
A Lesson In Teamwork
Friday, August 15th, 2008
I think we can all learn a little something about teamwork from this group of young men and women. This is absolutely spectacular synchronization, timing, teamwork — amazing!
Shop From Your Cell Phone!
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
What other things besides communication and education can technology redefine? For Polo Ralph Lauren, it’s the word “shopping”.
?Speaking of the “s” word, Polo Ralph Lauren plans to make it big this year, as the very first luxury retailer to revolutionize online shopping through a mobile e-commerce site. According to the retailer, the idea of buying train tickets and vending machine products for example, is not out of the ordinary in Japan. Ralph Lauren says phone shopping is not commonplace in the U.S., it’s something viewed to be only for people who are comfortable with technology, though not age-specific per se.
?Why phone shopping, you might ask? Being first in the U.S. to launch the technology is one thing, keeping up with the trend as a fashion mogul is another. Anyone would probably agree that in addition to feeling the need to keep up; Polo Ralph Lauren discerns that technology-savvy fashionistas would appreciate the convenience that phone shopping can offer.
?To counter the U.S. economy’s recession, a new-fangled inventory management system is definitely in order. The designer of the high-end apparel has thought of setting special codes in print ads, mailings, and store windows alongside the U.S. open tennis tournament beginning later this August. This means all the shoppers have to do is whip out their camera phones, download some special software, and use that to scan codes. Through this, they can access the Ralph Lauren website (which they have designed to be phone-friendly) to start shopping, read company profiles, or even watch tennis videos.
?The question still remains as to how much Polo Ralph Lauren invested on this technology or how this will either make or break their projected sales. This opens up a possible demand for mobile phones with built-in code readers; these phones are anticipated to be out in the market within the year, as per the apparel-maker’s heads-up.
?Phone shopping will definitely be groundbreaking; an event that will grace the morning papers and fashion magazines from here on.
Apple - 20.8 Billion and rising
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
If you invested heavily in Apple around 5 or 6 years ago you’re probably feeling pretty financially savvy. And with the stock up 1,474% since 2003 you very well should. On top of this huge stock gain, Apple is sitting on 20.8 billion dollars in cash and short term investments.
I’d like to take a brief moment to put the number 20,800,000,000 into perspective. Around 20.8 billion seconds (659 years) ago it was the year 1349. Right about the same time marked the beginning of the Ottoman Empire, the Hundred Years War, a few serious plagues that wiped out large portions of the population, the invention of a technique called knitting, and Mel Gibson played the heroic character Braveheart, who won Scottish independence from British tyranny. If Apple decided to give you 1 dollar for every second that you are alive, and you live to be 80 years old, they will only have to pay you 2.5 billion dollars.
Think that is impressive? Analysts predict the company’s hoard of cash could surge to nearly $30 billion over the next year because of strong sales of computers, iPods, and iPhones. This would put Apple well passed Microsoft’s 23.7 billion dollar bank account. Don’t remember Microsoft? They had that innovative software back in 98’. They were also noted in the 1999 definition of oxymoron:
ox·y·mo·ron. Noun. – “contradictory words in conjunction.” see: Microsoft Works. Also see: Government Worker”
So what is Apple going to do with all that money? There are a number of things. For one the company could seek acquisitions (For Microsoft Corp. we will start the bidding at 1 billion dollars do I hear 1 billion dollars?). The market is down, and Apple has the marketing ability to turn emerging technologies into the next big thing. Alternately Apple could take advantage of the dire straits that the major record labels’ are in. Or Apple could simply put some money into raw materials. As prices of everything rise, it would be nice for Apple’s suppliers to stock up. And what if Apple keeps putting it all away? Where they will go only Apple knows.
If Apple needs a few ideas for what to do with 20.8 billion dollars, I have some ideas here:
With 20.8 billion dollar bills placed side by side Apple could make an 18 foot wide path around Earth’s equator. Or placing 20.8 billion dollar bills end on end Apple could make a path to the moon and back 4 times. Maybe Apple is feeling generous? If so they could give every person on Earth $3.15.
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