Business Solutions

How to win Friends & People

2010-12-24T08:07:00.000-08:00

International Business Opportunities Service

2010-10-23T04:09:00.000-07:00

SMEDA is providing a unique service to facilitate SMEs by promoting business-to-business relationships. SMEDA's role is that of a matchmaker and we provide a platform for SMEs to come together and explore different areas of cooperation using SMEDA's databases and web-site. Now anyone can look for joint ventures, buy running business, form equity partnership, look for agents or distributors franchises and other business investment opportunities through this initiative.

Following is the list of available business opportunities:- (Total: 8)


	[IBO Archive List]
Business Title / Description		Country	Validity
Chemicals
Biodegradable Wound & Burn Healing Dressings, Chemicals, Chemical Processes & Technologies.		Czech Republic	On Going

Fire and Rescue Equipment
Fire Equipment		China	On Going

Food
Exporting Food Products		Iran	On Going

Information Technology
MYSQL AB is looking for new Gold partners		Japan	On Going

Light Engineering
M/S Guanghou day and Motorcycle Co. Ltd		China	On Going
CNG 2 Wheel Motorcycle		China	On Going
Collaboration with a Czech Republic company		Czech Republic	On Going

Miscellaneous
Trade and B2B partnership in Paints and Varnish Sector		Czech Republic	On Going

You can contact our offices for further details on these business investment opportunities or for posting your own business information.

DisclaimerThis message is re-produced for the information for public in general and SMEs in particular as part of the SMEDA facilitation for SMEs development. Whereas every effort has been made to ensure that the information given in this message is accurate, the Small & Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA), Ministry of Industries, Production & Special Initiatives, Government of Pakistan and its sponsoring agencies/projects accept no responsibility for any errors, omissions or misleading statements or data in that information and no responsibility is accepted as to the standing of any local or foreign firm, company or individual mentioned.

Top 10 Ways to Generate Online Business Ideas.

2010-10-23T04:02:00.000-07:00

1. What YOU know the best!

It is amazing what we know and we are not aware of that. Think again! You can turn your hobby in profitable business. Are you packed with some knowledge that can help you start online business? Do you have cat and know much about cats? If you do, write blog about Persian Cats. You can generate revenue from contextual ads and affiliate commission. If you know all about fishing and fishing baits build Affiliate store for fishing equipment, it is not complicated.

Don’t worry about the required skills to start online business, you will learn through work.
2. Study Case Studies!

Case studies are great resources not only for gathering business ideas but also have other useful information and resources that will help you to start and run an online business. Easiest way to learn is to see what successful people did, but do not copy paste someone else’s ideas, at least make some changes. Try to be innovative and unique. Be careful, there are lots of scams or pay to earn case studies. Real and useful cases explain how they did it and which resources they used, the scams talk only about how much money they earned. Here are some places to read case studies: The Lactivist Project andCommission Junction Case Studies

3. Follow the fastest growing online sectors!

Try to find the fastest growing online business sectors. Internet sales grow 25% each year. Some sectors grow faster than others. Practices say that in a sectors that grow fast it is easier to be successful than it sectors that grow slowly or at an average rate. The reason for that is that there is a future market share that is not conquered yet.

According to InternetRetailer the fastest growing sectors in 2005 were:

- hardware and home improvement 50%,

- office supplies 45%,

- apparel and accessories 42%,

- books, CDs and DVDs 36%,

- food and drug, up 26%

You can also check and compare search trends for specific keywords at Google Trends

4. Check Pulse at E-bay!

E-bay is the biggest e-marketplace. At E-bay Pulse you can find the best selling products in different categories. Some of his categories and products can light you bulb. It doesn’t mean that you have to start e-bay business you can just get ideas what kind of products are popular and can be sold online.

5. Browse Affiliate Programs!

It is not complicated to build Affiliate Shop. The affiliate programs have abundance of products from different partners. Sing up as an affiliate and brows through different sellers and products. You can get a lot of inspiration what kind of shop you can build.

Commission Junction is one of the most popular Affiliate Sites and has many different goods. At ClickBank you can find only downloadable products.

Other companies that have affiliate programs are Amazon, AT&T, Barnes & Noble, Chase bank, Delta airlines, Gap, KMart and Walmart.

6. Popular searches as a hint!

The best business principal is to offer products and services that people search for. Maybe you think that you have an excellent product but if nobody is looking for it you wouldn’t make any many.

You can find popular searches at Google Zeitgeist or Wordtracker.

If you come up with any business idea you can check the popularity of related keywords (its frequencies) at The Overture Keyword Tool.

Remember the keywords that are more frequent are not always more attractive.

Other keyword attributes that matter are: relevancy, profitability and competition.

7. Find Top Paying keywords!

Different Online businesses have different profitability per 1000 visitors. That means that different keywords have different values. In other words, the businesses that have high profitability rate are ready to pay high price for every visitor (keyword). The prices per click sometimes goes over $50, or even more.

If you build WEB site around those top paying keywords and manage to bring in visitors you will make good profits per visitor with Google AdSense or other contextual ad program.Other thing you can learn from the top paying keywords is that these categories of online businesses are really profitable and if you have knowledge and resources you should seriously consider to start one. But remember, these keywords are very hard to compete, the competition is ruthless (actually that’s the real reason why the price for a click is so high). Anyway may be you can find a way to fight a successful war and make good profits.

Check this list of top paying keywords.

To find new Top Keywords just type “top paying adsense keywords”or “high paying adsense keyword list” in the search engines. There are plenty off free keyword lists out there.

8. Survey the Market Niches!

A market niche is a small portion of a bigger market segment that is not attractive for the big companies that sell mainstream products and hunt large profits. It is the same at internet. There are a lot of small market gaps out there with no or small competition. The marketing niches bring small profits but if you spread your online business portfolio on several of them you can multiply your small portions of profit. So don’t try to sell “business software”, “accounting software” can also be hard to compete but try “custom accounting software” or “small business accounting software” it should be much easer. (The marketing niches could be identified with the keywords searched by internet users).

Go at Overture, type a keyword and you will see a “long tail” of searches (keywords). Those are your marketing niches. There you can find some pretty good business ideas.

You can also check the competition level of your keywords: type in the search box [allintitle:”your keywords”]. The number of results is the number of your real competitors.

9. Visit forums!

There are a lots of forums about Online Businesses. Find one that fits you and sign up. Read posts and comments, ask questions and visit the sites of the members.

Here is one : Small Business Brief Forum .

10. Buy Book.

I would say – you don’t need a book. But if you don’t want to do the things above, it’s OK, you can by one. Anyway it doesn’t have to be a book strictly about Online Business Ideas. Books about Internet Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Search Engine Optimization or Pay-Per-Click Advertising can also give you good ideas. And you will learn other useful staff also.

At the end I just want to say that more creative and innovative you are the chances to make sudden success are bigger. Sometimes even stupid ideas are not so stupid. Who could’ve thought that TheOneMillionDollarWebPage.com would make any money? Or take MyPlace.Com for example, there were similar projects before but they didn’t become popular.

Basic Elements of a Successful Internet Business

2010-10-23T03:58:00.000-07:00

Every real Internet Business has three basic elements in order to serve its purpose. Sometimes it is difficult to distinct the elements from each other because they are interwoven and have mutual interference. These elements are: WEB site, Products and Visitors.

WEB site. The WEB site is a virtual place where the potential customers (the visitors) meet our offer (Products). The form and the type of the site will depend on the type of online business we chose to manage. It can vary from simple HTML pages to massive structure sites with automated e-commerce solution and interactive databases.
In some businesses we can use the WEB space of our business partners like EBay, CafePress or Blogger or we can get free subdomains. Anyway, the best way to successful Internet Business is to register own domain name and pay for high quality hosting.

Making simple sites it's very easy. At the beginning you can use automated site building software or you can start writing a blog where the posting is automated. Step by step you will learn simple HTML and that is very important to save many in the early stages of your business. If you manage to bring your online business to a higher stage you could afford to pay WEB designer or a company (if it is necessary).

Products.The second, but not less important element of an Online Business is the offer at the WEB site. When I say products I mean products in wider sense like tangible goods (books, t-shirts, TVs, etc), virtual goods (downloadable music, E-books, games), services (e-mail, hosting, consulting, design), Information, and Advertising Space. The Information at internet is mostly free but used to attract visitors and to encourage other types of sales.
When you are deciding what to sell at Internet you have to have in mind that you don't need to own the product you want to sell. If you produce or possess unique or brand name products you have great advantage, but mostly that's not the case. Therefore you have the option to sell other people's products at your site for appropriate commission and be their affiliate partner. Other solution is to sell advertising space at your site. And the good news is that you can combine these two techniques.

Visitors.The third and the most important element of an Internet Business are the potential customers, in other words the visitors of the WEB site. You might have a perfect WEB site and the best products but you won't make sales if you don't have visitors. In other hand, if you are able to attract targeted visitors you will easily adjust the other two elements.
I must mention that according to the experiences, the quality of the visitors (their intention) is mush more important than their quantity. This means that if you are able to bring visitors that have certain intention (targeted traffic) you will make more profits than bringing mainstream visitors (general traffic).
We can also divide the visitors in two groups; new and repeated. In order to convert new visitors into repeated you have to offer them real values meaning high quality content, service, design, and so on.
The new visitors are important to every online business but especially to the newly established businesses. Generally most of the new visitors come from the search engines through organic search results and Pay-Per-Click advertising. Other sources of visitors are free or paid links (text or banners) at other visited WEB sites.

If you fail to manage any of these three elements appropriately you wouldn't be able to build successful Internet Business.
Further in this blog I will write detailed articles regarding the three basic elements apart or jointly.

Needed skills to start online business

2010-10-23T03:54:00.000-07:00

The crucial question about the needed skills to start and run Internet Business it is not how much you already know but are you willing to learn?
You certainly need to have some skills. Don’t worry; it’s not difficult to learn the essential skills. At the beginning this skills doesn’t have to be at high level. The skills you posses, will improve through work and you will learn new ones.
The given list of the skills below it’s not complete, but it represents the most essential skills needed to start building online business. In some online business types it is enough to have only one skill to start. In some others, you will have to pay someone else to get certain job done.

1. Writing Skills. There are some types of businesses that can be run only with writing skills, like Blogs. Anyway, writing can be crucial for many other businesses as well. The level of the needed writing skills varies from case to case. Some times is necessary to have professional vocabulary and sophisticated writing stile and sometimes a slang can do just fine. If you think that your writing stile sucks, try to enhance it by writing articles only for link building purposes.
If you don’t want to write anyway, you can pay someone else to write for you or you can use someone else’s articles for free through article syndication programs.
But remember, in the most of the cases you will need high quality content for your site.

2. WEB Design. Even thou you might use site builders or the automated blogs to start your business you need to learn some HTML basics. You will need this at least to adjust your links or blend in the Google AdSence Ads.
HTML is simple. It might look complicated at the beginning but you will get the point quickly. As you business advances you can learn more complicated WEB formats as PHP, Java, or CSS or you can arrange some else to do it for you.
Using WEB templates is very simple and there are many free templates out there. Only thing you need to do is to add content and build the link structure of your site. You just need a little knowledge of HTML and software. I prefer Dreamweaver but you can use PageMaker or PageMill also. If you have advanced knowledge of HTML you can use simple HTML editors or even Notepad.
If you want to learn HTML you can find free lessons at some WEB sites or you can buy a book to save time and learn few extra tricks.

3. Graphic Design. You can start with MS Paint if you wish. If you don’t want to pay for the logo of your site you will have to make it your self. You could learn graphic design for other reasons too. If you can create cool designs you can sell them on products. You do not have to be expert; sometimes simple designs are sold better. You can try this at CafePress.com where you can sell your designs on t-shirts, caps, mugs, wall clocks and other cool products (no investment needed).
I use Photoshop to create my graphics. You can learn Photoshop different ways but according to my experience the best one is to by a book.

4. Internet Marketing Skills. If you want to create successful online business you must bring visitors to your site. These skills could be crucial for every Internet based business.
The easiest way to get visitors is to pay for them. You simply assign for Pay Per Click program, you create you ads, you select keywords and it is done. But it is not so simple in practice. First you will have to do some reading and than through practice you will improve your skills.
Other much more complicated technique to attract visitors is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). That means that you have to build a Search Engine friendly site in order to get traffic from the search engines for certain keywords. It is complicated activity because you have choose appropriate keywords, adjust the WEB pages and the site structure, place quality content, build network of inbound links and be careful not to do anything wrong. And for all these actions knowledge and time are required.
There are also some other, less significant possibilities to bring visitors to your site.
Concerning the Internet Marketing it is also important to learn how to convert new visitors into repeated visitors and how to convert visitors into customers.

5. Link Building Skills. Link Building could be considered as a part of the Internet Marketing. It is more activity than a skill. It is very important, especially for the newbie’s in the online business. Quality links can bring targeted traffic and are also important for the Search engines and SEO. These days it’s not easy to obtain high quality links and therefore with the right information and certain experience you can plan your link building strategy.

6. Searching Skills and Reading. I probably should’ve skipped this paragraph. Since you are reading this you probably search and read... more or less. But remember, Internet is very dynamic environment, and you have to stay informed. A lot of times you will have to use the search engines to find needed information and sometimes you will have to use the advanced search option. You will also have to do a lot of reading mainly in your area and you have to be able to recognize and read only quality content if you want to save time.

And remember, you must have willingness and determination to learn some of the required skills. Otherwise you won’t have anything to base your business on.
The good news is: you don’t have to try hard, you will learn through work.

Internet Business Types

2010-10-23T03:51:00.000-07:00

There are several types of businesses you can start online. It is difficult to make certain distinction among the Internet business types because sometimes they are interwoven and combined to give the best results. A criterion that can ease the distinction is the main income source of the business.

1. Corporate WEB site. This is not really an online business. Actually it’s WEB presence of a business, created for promotional purposes. Anyway, online presence is useful for almost any offline business and can bring new customers.
If you own offline business and you want to expand sales online,

sometimes it would be better to create a corporate WEB site first in order to sense the potential market.
The basic income of a corporate WEB site comes from offline sales initiated from the WEB presence. These sales are very hard to track.

2. WEB Services. WEB services include: e-mail, web hosing, directories, online payment (PayPal), online marketplace (E-bay) and many others. I this category we can also include some services that are prepared by order and could be delivered online like; web design, graphic design, internet marketing, translation, market research etc. Generally the income comes from monthly fees and sales. When the services are free the sites are monetized from the embedded ads.

3. On-line Shop. First requirement to open real e-shop is to have possession of appropriate goods for online sales. You can manufacture these goods or you can by them in bulk or one by one after you sell them (from a drop shipper). Other important issues you have to take care of are; the ordering and payment system, and the delivery of the goods. If you have the knowledge and the resources you could build and manage these system your self, but he easiest way is to cooperate with specialized companies in these areas.
The income in this type of business comes generally from sales.
In this business type you can increase your sales several times by joining Affiliate programs. That way you will make your products available to other WEB sites to sell for a commission.

4. Affiliate Shop. The WEB appearance of an affiliate shop is the same as the appearance of a real On-line shop. The difference is that you sell products you do not possess and you don’t have to take care of the payment and delivery. At the end of the month you receive commission form the sales made. The affiliate shop can be considered as a virtual reselling agent. The sales are electronically tracked with special codes for every affiliate partner.
Affiliation is very easy way to start online business. You can choose to sell whatever you like and you don’t have to make big initial investment.

5. Informational sites. Blogs, forums, online news, e-magazines, online encyclopedias, specialized WEB sites etc, can be treated as informational sites. Generally, the information at internet is free. If you possess specific or hardly accessible information you could also sell it and make good profits. The main income concerning informational sites comes from selling ad space, from referrals and or affiliate sales.
The easiest way to start home business with Informational site is to open a Blog and to embed Ads.

The key for success is simple; you can write about everything you want as long as you attracts visitors that act appropriately (generate income).

As I mentioned before in order to maximize your profits you can combine different business types and several income sources.

Starting a Business: The Idea Phase

2010-10-23T03:19:00.000-07:00

Many people believe starting a business is a mysterious process. They know they want to start a business, but they don't know the first steps to take. In this chapter, you're going to find out how to get an idea for a business--how you figure out exactly what it is you want to do and then how to take action on it.

But before we get started, let's clear up one point: People always wonder if this is a good time to start their business idea. The fact is, there's really never a bad time to launch a business. It's obvious why it's smart to launch in strong economic times. People have money and are looking for ways to spend it. But launching in tough or uncertain economic

times can be just as smart. If you do your homework, presumably there's a need for the business you're starting. Because many people are reluctant to launch in tough times, your new business has a better chance of getting noticed. And, depending on your idea, in a down economy there is often equipment (or even entire businesses!) for sale at bargain prices.

Estimates vary, but generally more than 600,000 businesses are started each year in the United States. Yet for every American who actually starts a business, there are likely millions more who begin each year saying "OK, this is the year I am going to start a business," and then don't.

But unless you're a technological genius--another Bill Gates or Steve Jobs--trying to reinvent the wheel is a big waste of time. For most people starting a business, the issue should not be coming up with something so unique that no one has ever heard of it but instead answering the questions: "How can I improve on this?" or "Can I do this better or differently from the other guy doing it over there?" Or simply, "Is there market share not being served that makes room for another business in this category?"Everyone has his or her own roadblock, something that prevents them from taking that crucial first step. Most people are afraid to start; they may fear the unknown or failure, or even success. Others find starting something overwhelming in the mistaken belief they have to start from scratch. They think they have to come up with something that no one has ever done before--a new invention, a unique service. In other words, they think they have to reinvent the wheel.

Get the Juices Flowing
How do you start the idea process? First, take out a sheet of paper and across the top write "Things About Me." List five to seven things about yourself--things you like to do or that you're really good at, personal things (we'll get to your work life in a minute). Your list might include: "I'm really good with people, I love kids, I love to read, I love computers, I love numbers, I'm good at coming up with marketing concepts, I'm a problem solver." Just write down whatever comes to your mind; it doesn't need to make sense. Once you have your list, number the items down one side of the paper.

On the other side of the paper, list things that you don't think you're good at or you don't like to do. Maybe you're really good at marketing concepts, but you don't like to meet people or you're really not that fond of kids or you don't like to do public speaking or you don't want to travel. Don't overthink it; just write down your thoughts. When you're finished, ask yourself: "If there were three to five products or services that would make my personal life better, what would they be?" This is your personal life as a man, woman, father, husband, mother, wife, parent, grandparent--whatever your situation may be. Determine what products or services would make your life easier or happier, make you more productive or efficient, or simply give you more time.

Next, ask yourself the same question about your business life. Examine what you like and dislike about your work life as well as what traits people like and dislike about you. Finally, ask yourself why you're seeking to start a business in the first place. Then, when you're done, look for a pattern to emerge (i.e., whether there's a need for a business doing one of the things you like or are good at).

They Delivered
Here's a business startup story that's a great example of seeing a need and filling it. Entrepreneur magazine is located in Irvine, California, a planned community. Many years ago, there weren't many fast-food restaurants in the business area. Most were across town, where the neighborhoods were. Two young men in Irvine found this lunch situation very frustrating. There weren't many affordable choices. Sure, there were some food courts located in strip centers, but the parking lots were really small and the wait was horrendous.

One day, as they were lamenting their lunch problem, one of them said, "Wouldn't it be great if we could get some good food delivered?" The proverbial light bulb went on! Then they did what many people don't do--they did something about their idea. Coincidentally, they purchased one ofEntrepreneur's business startup guides and started a restaurant delivery business.

To date, their business has served more than 15 million people! It's neither a complicated business nor an original one. Their competition has gotten stiffer, and yet they're doing phenomenally well. And it all began because they listened to their own frustrations and decided to do something about them. Little did they know that research cites the shrinking lunch hour as one of the biggest complaints by American workers. Some only get 30 minutes, making it nearly impossible to get out, get lunch and get back on time. So while these young entrepreneurs initially thought they were responding to a personal need in their local area, they actually struck a universal chord.

That is one way to get ideas--listening to your own (or your co-workers', family's or neighbors') frustrations. The opportunities are all there; you just need to search them out. If your brain is always set in idea mode, then many ideas may come from just looking around or reading. For instance, if you had read an article about the shrinking lunch hour, and if you were thinking entrepreneurially, you would say "Wow, maybe there's an opportunity there for me to do something. I should start researching it."

Inspiring Moments
Inspiration can be anywhere. Here's another classic startup story: Ever get charged a fee for returning a video late? Bet you didn't do anything about it. Well, when Reed Hastings got a whopping $40 late charge, instead of getting mad, he got inspired. Hastings wondered "How come movie rentals don't work like a health club, where, whether you use it a lot or a little, you get charged the same?" From this thought, Netflix.com, an online DVD rental service, was born. From its start in 1999, Netflix has grown into a big business with revenues topping $1.3 billion.

Getting an idea can be as simple as keeping your eyes peeled for the latest hot businesses; they crop up all the time. Many local entrepreneurs made tons of money bringing the Starbucks coffeehouse concept to their hometowns and then expanding from there. Take Minneapolis-based Caribou Coffee. The founders had what they describe as an "aha moment" in 1990, and two years later launched what is now the nation's second-largest company-owned gourmet coffeehouse chain. Other coffee entrepreneurs have chosen to stay local.

And don't overlook the tried and true. Hot businesses often go through cycles. Take gardening. For the last few years gardening products and supplies have been all the rage, but you wouldn't consider gardening a 21st century business.

In other words, you can take any idea and customize it to the times and your community. Add your own creativity to any concept. In fact, customizing a concept isn't a choice; it's a necessity if you want your business to be successful. You can't just take an idea, plop it down and say "OK, this is it." Outside of a McDonald's, Subway or other major franchise concept, there are very few businesses that work with a one-size-fits-all approach.

One of the best ways to determine whether your idea will succeed in your community is to talk to people you know. If it's a business idea, talk to co-workers and colleagues. Run personal ideas by your family or neighbors. Don't be afraid of people stealing your idea. It's just not likely. Just discuss the general concept; you don't need to spill all the details.

Just Do It!
Hopefully by now, the process of determining what business is right for you has at least been somewhat demystified. Understand that business startup isn't rocket science. No, it isn't easy to begin a business, but it's not as complicated or as scary as many people think, either. It's a step-by-step, common-sense procedure. So take it a step at a time. First step: Figure out what you want to do. Once you have the idea, talk to people to find out what they think. Ask "Would you buy and/or use this, and how much would you pay?"

Understand that many people around you won't encourage you (some will even discourage you) to pursue your entrepreneurial journey. Some will tell you they have your best interests at heart; they just want you to see the reality of the situation. Some will envy your courage; others will resent you for having the guts to actually do something. You can't allow these naysayers to dissuade you, to stop your journey before it even begins.

In fact, once you get an idea for a business, what's the most important trait you need as an entrepreneur? Perseverance. When you set out to launch your business, you'll be told "no" more times than you've ever been told before. You can't take it personally; you've got to get beyond the "no" and move on to the next person--because eventually, you're going to get to a "yes."

One of the most common warnings you'll hear is about the risk. Everyone will tell you it's risky to start your own business. Sure, starting a business is risky, but what in life isn't? Plus, there's a difference between foolish risks and calculated ones. If you carefully consider what you're doing, get help when you need it, and never stop asking questions, you can mitigate your risk.

You can't allow the specter of risk to stop you from going forward. Ask yourself "What am I really risking?" And assess the risk. What are you giving up? What will you lose if things don't work out? Don't risk what you can't afford. Don't risk your home, your family or your health. Ask yourself "If this doesn't work, will I be worse off than I am now?" If all you have to lose is some time, energy and money, then the risk is likely worth it.

Determining what you want to do is only the first step. You've still got a lot of homework to do, a lot of research in front of you. Buying this book is a smart first step. Most important: Do something. Don't sit back year after year and say "This is the year I'm going to start my business." Make this the year you really do it!

Management Functions and Skills

2010-10-23T02:09:00.000-07:00

The word management is commonly used in several different ways. For example, you can refer to people handed in providing guidance and direction of the organization or it can refer to the method by which organizational goals are obtained. But actually the word management is the process by which organizational goals are achieved by working with and through people through the efficient use of limited resources.

What are the functions of management?

The following are the four major functions of management.

Planning

Planning is the essence of human labor, because no aspect of our life can work without any planning. Similar is the case of an organization that requires comprehensive planning for success and prosperity. Planning involves setting goals and deciding how best to achieve them. Therefore specific strategies
are established to achieve those goals and develop new plans to integrate and coordinate activities.The purpose of planning is that the organization is successful in the near future, as well as in the distant future.

Organize

Organizing is a management function that refers to the process of assigning tasks to various individuals or groups within the organization. Organization function helps answer questions such as which tasks to do, to carry out these tasks and what process is used to group these tasks, etc. So basically, the organization provides a mechanism to implement place plans that ultimately contributes to the over all success of the organization.

Leader

Principal refers to the process of guiding the activities of members of the organization in appropriate directions to achieve the objectives of an organization. This function is also commonly known as motivation, influence, direction or action. The main purpose is to increase the overall productivity of an organization. Packed with communication with others, motivate members of the organization and promotion of the necessary levels of change and motivation.

Control

Another important function of management is the control that was intended to regulate the activities of the organization’s actual results could be compared with the previously established objectives.

Therefore the control function includes the monitoring of actual performance, compare actual performance for the expected standards and organizational goals and taking appropriate actions if necessary. The control is a continuous process that starts from the collection of information, making comparisons on the basis of this information and then find new ways to improve production.

What are the management skills?

According to Katz, there are three main types of management skills necessary for successful performance management. These skills are presented and explained below.

Technical Skills

Technical skills refer to the ability to apply the expertise and experience to work related techniques. Examples of these skills are manufacturing, engineering, computing, accounting, etc. This type of skills are needed at the lower level of management by managers at this level has to do directly with employees who work in an organization.

Human Skills

Human skills refer to the ability to work well with others and encourage cooperation within the team was. Such a skill is important in all levels of management because effective managers with human capabilities are able to communicate effectively with others to motivate them to achieve the objectives of the organization.

Conceptual Skills

Skills related to the ability to visualize the organization as a whole and understand how the organization fits into the broader context of the industry. This type of competition is very important level of organization, which helps senior managers to guide the organization as a whole. A manger with conceptual skills includes various functions of the organization, as we know how changes in one part of the organization affects the rest of the organization.

Employee Training and Development

2010-10-23T02:03:00.000-07:00

Employee training and development is part of the field of human resource management. It is concerned with activities related to the management of an organization, its aim is to better the performance of groups and individuals in an organizational setting. Employee training and development is known by many names, including human resource development, employee development and learning and development. The quality of employees and their development through education and training is a major factor in determining profitability [long-term] of a business. It is a good policy to invest in the development of employee skills, especially if the employees are good at their jobs. Training and development not only help the employees to better their performance, but it also increases productivity. Training is mostly associated with new employees, which is a mistake because current/old employees also
benefit from it. Training helps employees to adjust to rapid changes in job requirements and keeps them updated to new technologies and methods. Training may include some of the following methods; other such methods are mentioned and explained further below:

• Job rotation

• Lectures

• Role playing and simulation

• Apprenticeships

• Audiovisual methods

• Internships and assistantships

• Programmed learning or laboratory training

Purpose of Training and Development

The purpose of training and development as mentioned above is simply to enhance employee knowledge about particular methods to improve their job performance. It also helps employees to develop a greater sense of self worth, well-being and dignity as they become more valuable to their organization or society. Generally, employees are the ones who gain more because of their increased productivity. Such factors give them a sense of satisfaction through the achievement of company as well as personal goals. Recent research has shown specific benefits that a business receives from employee training and development, including:

• Reduced Turnover

• Increased productivity

• Increased efficiency resulting in financial gain

• Decreased need for supervision

However, some of the reasons for the emphasis on the development and growth of personnel may include the following: “Creating a pool of readily available and adequate replacements for personnel who may leave or move up in the organization, Enhancing the company’s ability to adopt and use advances in technology because of a sufficiently knowledgeable staff, Building a more efficient, effective and highly motivated team, which enhances the company’s competitive position and improves employee morale and Ensuring adequate human resources for expansion into new programs.”

Training Process

The steps given below are necessary in the training process:

• Organizations objectives

• Need of assessment

• Identifying a Gap

• Training objectives

• Selecting trainees

• Selecting the training method and mode

• Choosing the means of evaluation

• Administering training in the organization

• Evaluation of the training

Remember that the business should have a clearly defined strategy and a set of objectives that directs and drives all the decisions, which are made especially for the training decisions. Organizations that plan their training process are much more successful than those that do so without planning ahead. Most of the time business owners want to succeed, but do not want to engage in a training design to improve their chance of success. Why is that? Below are five most identified reasons:

• Time

• Broad expertise

• Getting started

• Lack of trust and openness

• Skepticism as to the value of training

A training program which is well conceived and planned can help a firm succeed. A program structured with a company’s objectives and strategy in mind has a much higher probability of improving its productivity and other goals and objectives which are set I the training mission.

It is essential to formulate a training strategy, which requires addressing a few important questions, for example: Identify your customers/target market, why do they purchase your product? Identify your competitors, how do they serve the market and what competitive advantages do they enjoy? What parts of the market do you think they have ignored, which you can target? What is your company’s strength, or weakness? What new social or economic trends are emerging that may affect your firm?

Training Needs

The need for training can be assessed by analyzing 3 major human resource areas, which are: characteristics of a job, needs of an individual and the organization as a whole. This analysis provides answers to the following questions: Why and where is training needed? What specifically must an employee learn while being trained, in order to be more productive? Who needs to be trained and when? The process starts by assessing the current status of a particular company and how it performs it tasks by applying the abilities of its employees. This analysis provides some benchmarks against which the effectiveness of a training program may be evaluated. Before starting it is essential to understand where you need your firm to be at a given time for instance, “where do you see your firm in five years time”? The training program should be planned to get you there or to achieve that goal.

Before starting a training or development program it is important to determine the areas where training is needed. It would be very foolish to implement a company-wide training effort without first concentrating resources on the actual problematic areas. An internal audit is one of the best ways to help point out the areas which would benefit from training. Secondly, a skills inventory is another way to determine skills possessed by employees in general. By doing this the human resource department can assess what skills are present and what skills are needed and can be acquired with the help of training for future development.

Training Goals

Training goals in any training and development program should always relate directly to the needs determined by the assessment program as mentioned above. The training course should clearly state what behavior or skill will be changes as a result of the training along with relating to the mission and the company’s strategic plan. Training goals should include milestones to help take the employee from where she/he is today to where the firm wants to see him in the future in terms of job performance and productivity. Setting goals in the beginning helps to evaluate the training program and also motivates employees and gives them an idea of how they themselves can improve their work. The best part of allowing employees to participate in setting objectives or goals is that it increases the probability of success.

Training Methods

Some of the training methods are mentioned above; the ones mentioned below will help you understand training methods more clearly. There are two main types of training methods available to businesses: “on-the-job and off-the-job methods. What method should be used or is best suitable for your business is determined by individual circumstances and some other factors like, who is part of the training and why, and what the training is for exactly. On-the-job training is delivered to employees while they perform their regular jobs; it is the best way to get the job done with no time lost; more like multi-tasking. Off-the-job training may include, training via, lectures, special studies, television, conferences, films discussions, case-studies, role-playing, simulation, programmed instruction and laboratory training. Orientations are for new employees. The first few days on the job are crucial in the success of new employees as they determine if they will stay or not. “This point is illustrated by the fact that 60 percent of all employees who quit do so in the first ten days.” However, orientation training should emphasize on the topics given below:

• Company’s history and mission

• Key members in the organization

• Key members in the department

• How the department helps fulfill the goals and mission of the company

• Personnel rules and regulation

Some companies use written presentation whereas others may use verbal presentations. Small businesses however, convey such topics in one-on-one orientations. What method is used is not as important as what message is given to the new comer and how he/she understands his/her new place of employment.

Individual employees can be evaluated by the company by comparing the performance and current skill level to the company’s performance standards or estimated needs. Discrepancies between an actual as well as anticipated skill levels identifies training need. When you have identified the training need it is important to decide what training is necessary and where it is needed. One of the most important things to decide is who needs the training. Companies should understand the importance of training and development, but keep in mind that it is not a cheap practice; it costs a lot of money. Planning ahead is always a good measure. Training selection should be careful, keeping in mind, how the company can benefit by training a particular employee. It is best to choose people who will help benefit the company in the best way possible along with themselves with the training. Companies can only benefit, if the employee benefits from the training program. If the employee is motivated the result will automatically lead to a positive direction.

How to Use Twitter in a Marketing Campaign

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1. Establish Your Web Presence First

Twitter is a conduit rather than a destination. One major reason to attract followers to your Twitter feed is to direct them to other worthwhile places such as your website or Facebook page. That may mean “retweeting” reports on a hot trend in your industry; steering followers to Facebook to get a discount code for your products; or perhaps sending people directly to your website to participate in a contest or a survey. Twitter is just one leg of a three-legged stool. Establish the other two legs, your company website and Facebook page, before using Twitter.

2. Develop a Long-Range Plan

Twitter is free, but it requires at least a three-year emotional investment to develop and maintain your audience. Be sure you can keep up the momentum for the long haul by developing a long-range plan.

Remember, if you shut down and then try to open up again sometime later, people may not come back to follow you because they won’t want to be left hanging again.

3. Let Staffers Help

If you’re not comfortable tweeting yourself, you can have a junior staffer who is more Internet-savvy tweet for your company with supervision. The tweets can be written and approved in advance. That staffer should not masquerade as you or another top executive though. You might consider creating a profile for your brand and having the staffer write interesting tweets in the third person. The Twitter profiles of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are two great examples of this. Rather than seeing the word “I” in these tweets, you’re more likely to see wording such as, “Interesting photo of the 2011 subway plan” and a link to related information. One PR firm that specializes in food accounts, Cuttlefish Ink, created a communal Twitter account, named it @AppetiteForInk, and invited all of its staffers to keep it alive with tweets.

4. Maintain Dialogue

Once you start your Twitter conversation, be sure to keep it going or you’ll lose followers. Use Twitter to share links to the trends and news you follow during the normal course of doing business day to day. The downside is that once you open a dialogue, you’ll find out that not everyone loves your company. You may get complaints. But you must respond. Consider something along the lines of “XYZ business appreciates your comments. Here’s what we can do for you …” Since the viral growth of a negative post can be exponential, it’s best to make an extra effort to nip the problem in the bud. By the same token, if you do well by a customer, that viral communication can work for you. Cuttlefish founder, Shira Loyer, says everyone in the agency receives an alert when there is activity on @AppetiteForInk so they can respond quickly.

5. Focus on Others

It’s not just who follows you on Twitter, it’s who you follow. Following relevant people demonstrates you understand an industry or field. Remember not to be the bore at the party who talks only about himself. A general rule of thumb is one tweet about yourself to every nine that are not. Retweeting is a great option for sharing impressive observations made by others and for logging your concern for an issue or development.

In her 16 years as a PR professional, Barbara Goldberg has helped clients in health care, alternative energy, and the performing arts tell their stories in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CBS News, ABCNews.com, and many other media outlets.