Articles for Business & Finance

EXCERPT: AS stated by Robert Kiyosaki, there is a need for more entrepreneurs. Our educational system needs to be overhauled and begin teaching in a way that enables students to think like entrepreneurs.
education should emphasize interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence. they should teach investing and money management. they should teach sales techniques and team building and leadership. they should teach students the basics of fund raising and writing business plans.
this overhaul is...

EXCERPT: Farewell to cowboys Cowboys are becoming a vanishing culture Aug 10th 2006
From The Economist print edition “GEORGE WILLIAMS, one of Scottsdale's last remaining cowboys, has been raising horses and cattle on his 120 acres for 20 years. The cattle go to the slaughterhouse, the horses to rodeos. But Mr Williams is stomping mad…” The August 10th issue of The Economist has an interesting article on our state, and the state of our state. It seems the...

EXCERPT: Do the companies we do business with really care if they keep us as customers?
Do these companies realize that every time they make us jump through the PHONE PROMPT HOOPS they come with in micro seconds of loosing our business?
When you get forwarded to a call center in India do you feel abandoned by the company you thought was an American Company?
This week changed the way our Company will do business goinig forward.
We will no longer purchase goods from any company that has a call...

EXCERPT: This is not an article per se, but more of a request for input.  There are diverse philosophies expressed here, and I think the input could be interesting.  Or maybe not.  This year the company I work for as a manager changed the manner in which annual raises are calculated. Previously, we performed the annual evaluations and raises were given as a percentage of their salary, based on performance.  For example, if someone received the meeting standards...

EXCERPT: “You’d never see members of the same team tackle each other in football.  But it sometimes happens in business.” (Teamwork Means Getting All Hands Ready For A Touchdown, Investor’s Business Daily, Monday, June 12, 2006)
 
This was the case at chip designer/maker Microchip Technology in Chandler Arizona. 
 
“It all began when clients started to move production to low-cost Asian plants.  U.S. sales reps who had the design account...

EXCERPT: I have been wondering when the billions in profits that the oil companies are making are going to trickle down to the end consumer.  Unfortunately the reason that trickle down economics doesn't work, is because of greed.  The oil companies are only netting approximately 10%, that is not that much.  Of course it is, when you consider what we have to pay at the pump.  If there was less greed and more compassion (oops, what a liberal idea) the corporations...

EXCERPT: If you can see the future behavior of your mutual fund or stock and determine the optimum point at which to get off, read no further. 
 
But if you can’t, then an alternative is to take the bull by the horns and decide for yourself on a point (say, twenty-five percent annualized return) at which you will get off.
  o  Set your threshold level of return and stick to it.
  o  Don’t sell before it is reached.  (i.e., don’t panic)...

EXCERPT: AZ Mom, you have aroused a valid discussion.  My experience tells me that the “work ethic” in America has eroded since I was growing up.  But so has the reward for a worker’s investment in the job.
 
We hear from our leaders that we should redouble our efforts to increase productivity.  The productivity squeeze is on, but the Average American is not seeing the benefit of their increasing effort as they strain into the productivity harness...

EXCERPT: What's wrong with this picture?
1950’s:
Good news – the company is offering a voluntary defined contribution retirement (K-) plan, with partial matching contributions.
 
1970’s:
Henceforth, the pension plan is unavailable to new employees. 
 
1980’s:
[Board of Directors: resolution – suspend K-plan matching contributions.]
 
1990’s:
The pension plan has been converted to a cash balance plan.   Some (translation:...

EXCERPT: Every week I am going to post comments about Companies that we should not give are business to. Also I will post companies that are Ripping off their customers.
Today it's VERIZON SUPER PAGES
REASON: If you place an ad on Verizon Super Pages and have them debit your bank account you are screwed. For 6 months this company has been trying to cancel an ad placed on VERIZON SUPER PAGES. The reason they are trying to cancel for 6 months is every time they phone the company the person...