HR Article

The Top 5 Benefits of using Contractors:

Thinking about hiring offsite help? Wonder if that’s a good idea? Let’s take a look. Here are the top five benefits that come from hiring contingent workers: 

1. Flexibility

The flexibility of contract help means you can enlist this employee for any length of time, from a two-week research project to a six-month website development and launch. You can contract help on a temporary or ongoing basis. This is ideal for short-term projects, particularly when they are inconsistent and sporadic. This means you don’t have to bring on an FTE when you don’t have long-term work for them to do, which also eliminates the need to reduce that staff when the work dries up. 

2. Cost Savings

Temporary workers save your company money in many ways—from reducing waste to minimizing expenses. Consider the following: 

• No vacation pay, sick time, or overtime 

• No insurance costs or worker’s comp costs 

•  Reduced overhead, such as the cost of hardware and software 

• Tax benefits, as contractors pay their own 

Business News..  

Tesco proposal to invest in Trent Hypermarket gets DIPP nod ...

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has approved Tesco's application to invest in Tata-owned Trent Hypermarket, paving the way for the clearance of the first foreign investment proposal in multi-brand retail by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) at its upcoming meeting on Monday.

"We have recommended the Tesco application for clearance," a senior DIPP official told ET. The DIPP vets all foreign investment proposals in the retail sector before they are sent to FIPB, the inter-ministerial body that clears foreign direct investment in sectors where government permission is required.

The DIPP approval means that it has found the proposal to be compliant with India's foreign investment policy for retail.

           Thought of the day

          Difficulties in your life do not come to destroy you,

 

  but to help you realise your hidden potential and power,

Let difficulties know that you too are difficult.

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

             Thought of the day

        

The greater danger for most of us lies

 

not in setting our aim too high and falling

short;but in setting our aim too low,

and achieving our mark.

-Michelangelo

Brief about Irreplaceable Leader....

STEVE JOBS

Synopsis

Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco, California, on February 24, 1955, to two University of Wisconsin graduate students who gave him up for adoption. Smart but directionless, Jobs experimented with different pursuits before starting Apple Computers with Steve Wozniak in 1976. Apple's revolutionary products, which include the iPod, iPhone and iPad, are now seen as dictating the evolution of modern technology. He died in 2011, following a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

CONTENTS 

• Synopsis
• Early Life
• Apple Computers
• Departure from Apple
• Reinventing Apple
• Pancreatic Cancer
• Later Innovations
• Personal Life
• Final Years

Quotes

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”

(Jobs inviting an executive to join Apple)

Thought for the Day

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. 

It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most...We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

- Marianne Williamson, American Author and Lecturer

Article on Compensation (Human Resource)

COMPENSATION

"If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings - and put compensation and rewards as a carrier behind it - you almost don't have to manage them."
          -Jack Welch

Meaning

Compensation is a systematic approach to providing monetary value to employees in exchange for work performed. Compensation may achieve several purposes assisting in recruitment, job performance, and job satisfaction.

* How is compensation used?  * What are the components of a compensation system?  *  What are different types of compensation?  * Negotiate for a win-win  *

Marketing Glossary

Marketing audit

 A systematic examination of a business’s marketing environment, objectives, strategies, and activities with a view to identifying key  strategic issues, threats and opportunities.

Marketing concept

The marketing concept is about matching a business’ capabilities with customer wants.

Marketing intelligence

The composite of all data and ideas available within an organisation that assists in decision-making.

Marketing plan

A detailed statement (usually prepared annually) of how a company's marketing mix will be used to achieve its market objectives. A marketing plan is usually prepared following a marketing audit.

Maturity stage

The stage during which a product's sales curve peaks and starts to decline, and profits continue to decline.

Company Profile

Infosys back on the growth curve

IT bellwether Infosys is back with a bang. After slipping to the number four position in terms of corporate earnings last quarter, the company has finally made a desperate move to do what it does best- be a market leader. The acquisition of Swiss multinational Lodestone comes at a time when many feel that Europe is the pandora’s box of the global economy.

We at Ishan have put the issue on the table for dissection and these are our conclusions-

1. Continental Europe is going through a bad patch and stock prices are at a low level. So it makes sense to buy a stake in the companies of Europe on present date.

2. The transition from Infosys Technologies to Infosys has to be a continuous story than a one time event and taking this ahead it has to enter into not only new markets but also new business verticals like public services, health services and cloud computing.

3. The client list has got to keep rolling. Lodestone had a good number of clients almost 200 spread across Germany, France and Austria. With so many shock waves hitting the global economy at random, depending on the same clients is foolishness.

4. Infosys was sitting pretty with a cash reserve of Rupees Twenty Thousand crore. Even after this deal which shall cost Infosys, Rupees One Thousand nine hundred thirty two crore , they will still have a lot of cash which can be used for expansion of the business empire.

Business News

Ferrari becomes the world's most powerful brand

Italian supercar maker Ferrari, has been declared as the world's most powerful brand by Brand Finance due the company's status and related qualitative parameters such as brand affection and loyalty that give Ferrari tremendous opportunity to generate revenue

Brand Finance, a leading independent brand valuation consultancy has published its annual study that reveals the top brands worldwide on the basis of revenue a brand can generate and how strong its customer/fan base is. And interestingly Ferrari has topped the chart this year.

Understandably, Ferrari does not have the financial strength of the overall revenues of large multinationals. But according to the study, considering the Italian supercar maker’s other financial metrics, such as net margins, average revenue per customer, and advertising and marketing spend, as well as qualitative parameters, such as brand affection and loyalty gives Ferrari tremendous opportunity to generate revenue. And it is this potential that has placed Ferrari as the world’s most powerful brand.

“It is always a pleasure to top any list and still more so when the competition includes some of the world’s most famous companies. This achievement proves that even in very tough economic times, Italy can still offer the world businesses of excellence,” commented Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo. “Behind this acknowledgement are exceptional products made by equally exceptional men and women. They made it possible and for that I thank them.” 

To get a deeper insight into the report it would be worth mentioning that the Brand Finance study measures a brand on three dimensions, namely, Inputs, Strength and Output. 

Mnagement Guru

(Founder and Chairman of HCL)

SHIV NADAR

                                                                 ( Born 14 July, 1945)

Shiv Nadar  is an Indian industrialist and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of HCL and the Shiv Nadar Foundation. As of 2011, his personal wealth is US$ 5.6 billion. Shiv Nadar founded HCL in the mid-1970s and transformed the IT hardware company into an IT Enterprise over the next three decades by constantly reinventing his company's focus. In 2008, Nadar was awarded Padma Bhushan for his efforts in the IT industry. Nadar, nicknamed by friends as Magus (Old Persian for Wizard), since mid-1990s has focused his efforts in developing the educational system of India through the Shiv Nadar Foundation.

Early Life:

Shiv Nadar hails from Moolaipozhi village in the Thoothukudi district about 10 KM from Tiruchendur town in Tamil Nadu, India and was born in the Nadar community to Sivasubramaniya Nadar and Vamasundari Devi in 1946.

His mother, Vamasundari Devi and S. P. Adithanar, founder of Dina Thanthi were siblings. Shiv Nadar received a pre-University degree in The American College, Madurai and degree in Electrical And Electronics Engineering from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore. He began his career at Walchand Group's Cooper Engineering in Pune in 1967.

HR Article

The Educated Training Consumer

Why Is Training Undervalued?

Training and development activities can increase the capabilities and abilities of most organizations. Virtually every recent management leaders (eg. Deming, Crosby, Senge), have stressed the importance of learning as a primary tool for organizational success. That said, training as a whole, is not consistently valued by managers or staff. Even when managers support training through what they say, when the time comes to allocate resources for training, it is often the new photocopier that wins out.

Staff can also be ambivalent. We've noticed a shift in the perceptions of employees regarding training. Ten years ago, training was often regarded as a pleasant break from work, a chance to learn a few things and meet others. Now overworked staff are more hesitant to even attend. Being away from the workplace for a day means that somehow a day's work must be made up.
Since we work in the training delivery sector, you might expect us to attribute the undervaluing of training to neanderthal managers, prehistoric like organizations, or burned out employees. In fact, we think the explanation must lie with the profession itself. Perhaps training is undervalued because it often doesn't provide value! If that is so, then the responsibility must lie squarely with training practitioners. We are going to look at some aspects of the training profession so that you can become a more educated training consumer.

The Problems With Training

In our years in the training profession we have made the following observations:

1. Trainers are often more interested in selling a program than helping you and your staff improve performance or organization effectiveness.
2. Trainers generally move into training from other jobs. Few people choose training as a primary career choice. Hence they are unlikely to have undergone rigorous training in psychology, learning, interpersonal relationships, etc. They are less likely
to have formal training in the content they will be teaching.
3. The training profession is dominated by a culture that includes the notion that a trainer does not need to have advanced knowledge about what s/he is teaching.

Marketing Glossary

Involvement

The level of interest, emotion and activity which the consumer is prepared to expend on a particular purchase

Labelling

Packaging information that can be used for a variety of promotional, informational and legal purposes.

 Laggards

The group of consumers who are typically last to buy a new product Late majority People who are quite sceptical about new products but eventually adopt them because of economic necessity or social pressure

Lifestyle

Lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living as expressed in his or her activities, interests and opinions

Lifestyle segmentation

Lifestyle segmentation of a market is based on identifying lifestyle characteristics of customers that enable target customer groups to be identified. Many businesses now segment their markets by lifestyles, as these are increasingly seen as good predictors of consumer behaviour. Most companies use off-the-shelf research-agency classifications (such as the Target Group Index), because of the high cost and complexity of developing their own.

Thought for the Day

Thought for the day

Education is one of the few things a person is willing to pay for and not get.

- William Lowe Bryan

Business News

Technological innovations: Entertainment, education, monetary transactions all set to turn smarter this year

The world is getting increasingly influenced by technology and how people interact with it in their day-to-day lives. All the same, technology itself keeps changing, evolving and throwing up ever-newer possibilities. As we turn the corner on another year, the tech landscape too will shift gears, taking us even closer to a more interactive, personalised, mobile and connected future. Here are a few key trends in technology that are likely to make an impact or break new ground in 2013:



With mobile phones more widespread than banking, mobile payment is the next big payment method in India.



 Multitude of screens

It is curious to note that despite many industry watchers predicting the end of certain media types — the latest 'favourite' being the PC — they have continued to coexist and add to our overall experience. The year 2013 will likely establish the presence and utility of multiple screens in our lives, including TVs, PCs, tablets and, of course, phones. What technology companies will aim is to resolve the problems caused by fragmentation and the lack of common standards. Internet companies will come up with cool and innovative mobile-first experiences that will wow consumers with their simple, open, compelling and feature-rich applications.

Computing will get 'more ubiquitous'

No, you are right: just saying 'ubiquitous' is enough to convey the idea of how pervasive computing is getting. But while the concept of ubiquitous computing — also called the Internet of Things — has been around for some time, we are still not there — not quite. The coming year will possibly see more devices getting connected to each other through internet protocol (IP) than any other time in history.

World of Massive Open Online Courses (Moocs)

It's never been easier to take a course online. A new model of online courses open to people all over the globe via the internet has quickly gained ground and support among global universities in recent months. Moocs is a new generation of online education, freely accessible on the internet and geared towards very large student numbers. The buzz began last fall in the US when more than 1,60,000 students in more than 190 countries signed up to take a free artificial intelligence course taught by Stanford research professor Sebastian Thrun. Moocs are built on efficiency of scale, making a world-class professor or university accessible to thousands of students at once. The enthusiasm for Moocs reflects excitement about the potential economic benefits that could be unlocked by bringing higher education to people around the world. From free courses to partial or entire online degrees, one can't help but wonder about the future landscape of higher education in 2013!

Management Guru

I PLANT A SEED, IT'S UP TO PEOPLE TO NURTURE IT

ROOSHIKUMAR PANDYA

I've been a teacher all my life,'' says Rooshikumar Pandya with a smile. ''The first lesson I learnt as a Sanskrit teacher in an elementary school was that my job was not so much to teach children slokas and mantras, as to make sure that they never scraped their shoes and chappals on the bare floor (which was my habit when the speaker bored me!). This has always remained as an feedback system. This is why at 62, I continue teaching!''

He was also a learner, picking up a BA, MA and an L.L.B., before he got a Fulbright scholarship to go to the USA. He did not speak English then, so he decided to learn and within six months he was teaching English to Americans. He attributes his success to an innate love for words and languages, plus an yen for challenges.

HR Article

The Johari Window

Using Self-Discovery and Communication to Build Trust

Have you ever been part of a team where everyone was completely open with one another?

If so, then the chances are that you worked extremely effectively together. You knew your co-workers very well, and there was a solid foundation of trust between you. As a result of this positive working environment, you probably accomplished a great deal with this group.

Most of us realize that teams rely on trust in order to function productively, but how do you go about building that trust?

The Johari Window improves communication and trust.The Johari Window is a model that helps you do this, and it helps you learn important things about yourself, and so develop as a human being.

In this article we'll look at how the Johari Window works, and we'll see how you can use it with your team to improve communication and trust.

Business News

Daimler seeks stake in China car maker: Report

Daimler is planning to buy a 10 to 20 per cent stake in the passenger car unit of its Chinese partner BAIC Group and could sign the deal on Friday.

German auto maker Daimler is planning to buy a 10 to 20 per cent stake in the passenger car unit of its Chinese partner BAIC Group and could sign the deal Friday, a state-backed newspaper said.

The National Business Daily said on Thursday the deal for a portion of BAIC Motor will enhance Daimler's presence in China, the world's largest auto market and the third largest for Daimler unit Mercedes-Benz after Germany and the US.

BAIC could not be reached for comment on Thursday. Daimler declined to comment on Wednesday, calling recent media reports "speculation".

Earlier this month, Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche said the German company could take a stake in BAIC Motor ahead of its flotation.

BAIC Motor is planning a listing in Hong Kong later this year and is seeking to raise 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion), BAIC Group chairman Xu Heyi has said, according to Chinese state media reports.

Marketing Glossary

Direct response advertising
Direct response advertising is that which incorporates a contact method such as a phone number, address and enquiry form, web site URL or email address. This is done with the intention of encouraging the recipient to respond directly to the advertiser by requesting more information, placing an order etc. The use of this technique on television is commonly referred to as DRTV advertising

Distribution channelThe network of organisations necessary to distribute goods or services from the manufacturers to the consumers; the distribution channel therefore potentially consists of manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers.

Distributors

Companies that buy and sell on their own account but tend to deal in the goods of only certain specified manufacturers.

Divest

A strategy based on the Boston Matrix. Here the company can divest the SBU by phasing it out or selling it in order to use the resources elsewhere (e.g. investing in the more promising "question marks").

HR Article

Getting Value From Training

  Get Some ROI (Return On Investment)

All too often, potential benefits from training seminars are lost because the supports required for the application of learning are absent. And let's face it -- nobody can afford to send people for training just for the fun of it. We all expect that training will somehow impact upon a person's present or future ability to contribute to the employing organization. How do we "make it so"? That's our topic this month.

General Principles

Getting value from training isn't magical. There are some general principles that you can adapt to ensure that training for yourself and your staff results in changes in the workplace.

First, training that adds value tends to be integrated with other management systems. That is, training decisions and actions are carried out with reference to performance management systems, strategic planning processes, and career development initiatives. Training must be managed so that it is planned, and deliberately and clearly linked to workplace outcomes. When training is used as a reward, or its goals aren't clear to all concerned, it is rare that it has any positive impact.

Second, training that adds value actually has three components. First there is the training planning component. Then training occurs. Most important is the third component -- follow-up. Mechanisms must be in place to provide reinforcement to the learner for his or her efforts to implement what has been learned.

Finally, training that adds value occurs when there is an infrastructure in place that supports the learner's application of what has been learned. For example, if people attend a workshop on the use of a computer-based word processor, training will only add value if the software and hardware is available and in place when the person returns from training. While we normally think of infrastructure as relating to things, it can also refer to elements like time. For example, people attending a seminar on the use of effective management techniques will only be able to use what has been learned if they have sufficient time to do so.

So, getting value from training requires integration, planning, follow-up and infrastructure. While getting value should be a shared responsibility on the part of attendee(s) and manager, the manager plays a critical role in helping to create the conditions under which training will add value.

Thought for the Day

Thought for the Day

Marketing Glossary

Ambush marketing  A deliberate attempt by a business or brand to associate itself with an event (often a sporting event) in order to gain some of the benefits associated with being an official sponsor without incurring the costs ofsponsorship. For example by advertising during television coverage of the event.

Ansoff matrix  A model used in strategic marketing planning. The Ansoff Product/Market matrix model links marketing strategy with the general strategic direction of a business. It maps four potential product market strategies e.g. market penetration, product development, marketdevelopment and diversification on a matrix showing new versus existing products along one axis and new versus existing markets along the other.

Augmented brand  The additional customer services and benefits (“added value”) that are built around the core product or service offering

Available market The total group of customers who have an interest in a interest in a product or service, have access to it, and have the ability to buy it

Management Guru

AN ATMOSPHERE OF TOTAL EASE

KHURSHEED MERCHANT

Khursheed Merchant calls herself a coach because she sees her role as helping a player become more effective in her absence. She does not believe in motivational training because according to her, motivation is external and unless there is a corresponding internal shift, the change does not last. ''Improving and polishing personality to my mind is very off. A human being is so much more than a personality. Coaching brings about internal shifts by triggering insights, which later coalesce into behavioral and attitudinal changes just like that magic moment when we learn to balance on a bike.''

HR Article

The Value of Values Clarification 

Just Stop That Navel Gazing 

We walked in, individually, and in pairs.  Like many other branches, we had interpersonal conflicts, and many of us felt that even in with our small size, we weren't all pulling in the same direction.  It just seemed we were not on the same page of the book.

The manager, also a consultant, decided that what we needed was to share our values and beliefs, so that a) we could better understand each other (and thus, reduce conflict), and b) we could develop a "held-in-common" set of values and beliefs about what we did.  After a brief introduction, the manager asked us to complete a values clarification survey, that listed a number of  things on it, like honesty, teamwork, friendship.  We were asked to arrange these in some priority order...I think there were other parts to it, but can't recall.  After we had completed the thing, we went 'round the table discussing what we valued.  One person had listed love as his primary value, another teamwork, and yet, another independence.  It was a jolly time.

We trusted the facilitator enough so that we didn't question the process or the purpose, but you could see the somewhat perplexed looks on the faces of the people there.  We had real problems, and here we were talking about things so abstract that they had no relevance to our everyday life.  Nobody voiced this concern.

By the end of the day, we had discovered that we were all different.  Armed with this information, we could all now explain why someone else acted like a jerk.  The next day there was some brief discussion between employees.  "What was that all about?" one person said.  But, after a day or two, we simply forgot all about it.

Sound familiar? It's becoming more common.  A consultant or manager will get it in their head that problems can be addressed through a discussion of values and beliefs of the people that work there.  Some sort of retreat is set up, and a facilitator helps people to clarify what they hold dear.  The basic premise of the exercise is that a common set of organizational values and beliefs can be created that will guide individual and collective behaviour.  The reality is that almost nothing happens.

Business News

Millions of jobs at risk as ITIs fail to issue certificates even after 35-40 years

More than 1.4 million people are struggling to find or retain jobs because they are yet to get their certificates years after undergoing training under the government's main programme for imparting employable skills to school dropouts and illiterate workers.

Industrial Training Institutes, or ITIs, which operate under the joint supervision of the central and state governments, have failed to issue certificates even after 35-40 years in several cases, a labour ministry official told ET.

"There have been some recent cases, where we have issued certificates for ITI passouts from 1970s, as their employers were withholding their pension for failing to submit certificates promised at the time of hiring," said the official, who did not wish to be named.

Another senior official said state-run entities did not employ anybody without an official certificate while a few private firms granted employment on condition of submission of these certificates later.

"Public sector employers and entities like Delhi Metro need thousands of ITI-trained workers with technical and vocational skills, but do not employ people without official certificates. Some private firms hire such trained people on the basis of their marksheets, with the requirement to submit their diplomas as soon as possible," said the official.

States Slow in Clearing Backlog

There are over 8,000 state-run ITIs and about 2,000 private training institutes with a capacity to train 1.4 million persons as turners, fitters, welders and electricians, among hundreds of such trades and skills. The number of such institutes and the courses they offer for imparting employable skills have doubled over the past five years.

 According to the latest employment data for 2009-10, persons with diplomas, certificates, or one to two years of post-higher secondary education face the highest incidence of unemployment, at 9.6%, much above the 6.9% rate among graduates.

The 12th Five-Year Plan, which envisages a growth of 25 million in the country's 477 million-strong workforce by 2016-17, admits that "the increase in the volume of work" in issuing certificates has begun resulting in delays.

"Successful trainees have to wait for months to obtain certificates," it notes, advising the creation of an independent National Board of Trade Testing to avoid inordinate delays in certification so that the students get "speedy employment".

For the past two years, the labour ministry has been urging states to clear the backlog, even as it has begun moving to a new system to prevent a repeat of the mess. The process is quite cumbersome - the Centre sends blank certificates to states for filling in the student information received from ITIs and returning them to the Centre, which verifies the data, signs the certificates and sends them back to the states that in turn forward them to the ITIs.

"The certification system requires the signatures of both central and state government officials, so its efficiency depends on states. In many cases, even states are helpless as the private ITIs in their domain haven't maintained student records," an official said.

Business News

Reliance Communications tower arm in advanced talks for infrastructure sharing deal: Executive

 Reliance Communications Ltd's telecommunications tower arm is in "advanced" stages of discussions with three carriers for "a large" infrastructure sharing deal, a senior company executive told analysts on a conference call.

Mobile phone carrier Reliance Communications Ltd's telecommunications tower arm is in "advanced" stages of discussions with three carriers for "a large" infrastructure sharing deal, a senior company executive told analysts on a conference call.

Gurdeep Singh, chief executive of Reliance Communications' wireless business, did not give any further detail.

Singh said it was "premature" to comment on contours of any potential deal, when asked if the company was open to lease out its towers to Reliance Industries Ltd at a discount to market price.

Reliance Industries, controlled by Mukesh Ambani, holds 4G permits for all of India, and has long been expected to take Reliance Communications towers on rent to roll out high-speed Internet services.

Management Guru

USE THE INTUITIVE POWERS OF BODY AND MIND

BIMOL RAKSHIT

Head of the Indian chapter of the Silva Method of Mind Control, Bimol Rakshit believes that this method is an excellent adjunct to holistic growth of the human personality. Jose Silva who created this method said: ''It is an activation of the right hemisphere of the brain that controls creativity and intuition while at the alpha level (the subconscious level).''

Rakshit cautions those who practice the method and get good results to continue it. It is not a quick-fix method; people cannot adopt it for a short while and expect long term gains. ''The Silva Method is very effective, because through it, we learn to use the intuitive powers of the body and mind. My participants learn to use telepathy, clairvoyance and creative visualization.

Finance Glossary

ADX (Average Directional Index): Standard technical indicator that measures the strength of a trend.

Carry Trade: In Forex, holding a position with a positive overnight interest return in hope of gaining profits, without closing the position, just for the central banks interest rates difference.

Gap: A difference between the previous period's close price and the next period's open price. In Forex usually only occurs during weekends — between the Friday's close and the Monday's open price.

Jobber: A slang word for a trader which is aimed toward fast but small and short-term profit from an intra-day trading. Jobber rarely leaves open positions overnight.

Article

FAILURE DOES NOT MEAN THE END OF LIFE

As I write this article, certain important questions crop up in my mind -

• Who is responsible for turning a man into failure, others or  he himself?
• If one does not utilize the given opportunity, who is to be blamed, others or he himself?
• If one is leading an ordinary life despite being capable of carving an  extraordinary eventful life, who should be blamed, others or he himself ?
• Someone who does work half-heartedly and then he meets depression at the end, who  is responsible, others or he himself ?
• If one is a die-hard pessimist and terribly unenthusiastic towards life, who is to be   blamed, others or he himself ?
• Someone who is complacent and blames the whole thing on destiny, thereby ruining this precious life, who is to be blamed, others or he himself ?

It is my firm conviction that no other man can cheat you the way you cheat your own self  No one else is responsible for your failure except you yourself !

After facing few debacles and failures, one falls victim to inferiority complex and turns into a coward. He is unable to see that success and failure are the two sides of the same coin. And also that they are an inseparable part of  human life. He can’t even find the causes which bring his downfall so he brands himself as a loser. He starts believing that he was born to be a loser and that others are much better than him.

Friends,  I do not intend to delve deep into the reasons for mishaps and failures. I just want to tell you that despite everything that happened to you, however much an undesirable life was meted out to you, your world has not come to a dead end, a stop. Your value as a human being is still intact and unsevered. Nobody has the right to dump you as a piece of junk, nobody at all.

Thought for the Day

"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying."

The truths of life are simple. The reasons why are frequently complex, a combination of many factors and logic, that can easily become misdirected, conflicting and and confusing, even within our own minds. And yet despite this, truth can often be intuitively discerned. This is universal truth that we can all access if we are in touch with our inner nature.

Marketing Glossary

Dogs

A term used in the Boston Group Matrix. Unsurprisingly, the term "dogs" refers to businesses or products that have low relative share in unattractive, low-growth markets. Dogs may generate enough cash to break-even, but they are rarely, if ever, worth investing in. Early adopters People who choose new products carefully and are often consulted by people from the remaining adopter categories Early majority People who adopt products just prior to the average person

E-commerce

The use of technologies such as the Internet, electronic data exchange and industry extranets to streamline business transactions

Endorsement

The promotion of some kind of product recommendation or affirmation, usually from a celebrity, implying to the potential customer that a product is good

Expansionistic pricing

Expansionistic pricing is a more exaggerated form of penetration pricing
and involves setting very low prices aimed at establishing mass markets, possibly at the expense of other suppliers. Under this strategy, the product enjoys a high price elasticity of demand so that the adoption of a low price leads to significant increases in sales volumes

Thought for the day

"Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving."

The opening of our hearts is the greatest hope for the evolution of Mankind as we move into critical times.

Marketing Glossary

Cross-selling Using a customer’s buying history to select them for related offers, e.g. a car alarm for new car buyers.

Customer demand Consumer demand is a want for a specific product supported by an ability and willingness to pay for it.

Customer loyalty Feelings or attitudes that incline a customer either to return to a company, shop or outlet to purchase there again, or else to re-purchase a particular product, service or brand.

Customer need A need is a basic requirement that an individual wishes to satisfy.

Customer satisfaction The provision of goods or services which fulfil the customer’s expectations in terms of quality and service, in relation to price paid

Customer wants A want is a desire for a specific product or service to satisfy the underlying need.

HR Article

Personal Styles -- Time-Waster or Useful - Should You Join The MBTI Shuffle?

You can find them almost everywhere.  Myers-Briggs, Enneagrams,  leadership styles, learning styles, communication styles,  teaching styles, conflict management styles...all designed to  classify or label people so they can better understand themselves  and others.  More and more training vendors are using style  questionnaires as a basis for training and development.  The  question is:  are they really useful, or are they just fun  exercises akin to astrology?

Overview

Style questionnaires usually consist of a number of items.  Format may vary.  In some, you may be asked to choose one of two  activities (forced choice), while in others you may choose one  option from a set of four or five.  After you have completed all  of the questions, you tally up your scores to determine which  category of style is your most dominant. If it's a decision-  making/leadership style instrument, you may fall into one of the  following categories:  autocratic, consultative, participative or  laissez faire.  If it's a conflict management style instrument,  you may fall into the following:  avoider, confronter,  compromiser, or cooperator.  Generally, your results will give  you a "reading" of your preferred style, a secondary style, and  your least preferred style.

Advocates for the use of these kinds of instruments claim that  they will help you:

•  understand yourself better 
•  understand how other people see you  
•  develop style flexibility (eg. situational behaviour) 
•  understand others with different styles, and become more tolerant of stylistic differences 
•  build better teams