Future in Your Hand manage by Mitra Anugrah Mandiri Sentosa Incorporate

Kamis, 07 Februari 2008

The Arenas of Success - Article by Chris Widener part .1

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly." Theodore Roosevelt

I Am - the Arena of Values
I Should – the Arena of Responsibility
I Could - the Arena of Possibility
I Would - the Arena of Negotiation
I Want To - the Arena of Vision
I Will - the Arena of Dedication
I Do - the Arena of Accomplishment

In this article we are going to be looking at the “Arenas” that every person, organization, or business can operate out of. They are Values, Responsibility, Possibility, Negotiation, Vision, Dedication, and Accomplishment. The degree of our success is directly related to the degree in which we excel in and balance these arenas. As you go through each segment, think practically, because these are intended to be more than intellectual ideas. They are intended to help you solidify them into your life and turn your potential into performance. Though this article is specific to business and industry, the principles here are easily translated into personal application.

I Am - The Arena of Values.

Every person, organization and business has values. They may not know what they are, or they may not be able to articulate what they are, but they have them. The values of a business are what they believe in. What do they think is important? What do they hold as dear to the organization? Customer satisfaction is a simple value that a business may hold, for example. What a company values will affect the way the business runs and the employees act and work, so it is important to know what your business values are. Here are some questions for you to ask. I would encourage you to involve as many top-level people in this process as possible, as well as others, even down to the lowest levels of the organization. What do we think is important? What do we hope to accomplish? What do we believe in as we go about our work? Another item to deal with is Values Dissonance. That is when you state your values and find that they are not in action in the company. This then, takes teamwork and leadership to make sure that everybody is on the same page with your corporate values. The first step in a successful organization, or for your own life for that matter, is to determine your values. I would encourage you to spend some time on this if you haven’t already. And if you have, continue to make sure that everybody in the organization knows and believes in them.

Two excellent books on the subject are Leadership Jazz, and Leadership Is An Art, both by Max DuPree. Is there clear indication in your place or work that you are operating in the Arena of Values? Can you say without a doubt that “I Am,” or “We Are”? Hopefully you can, and if not, you can be, with a little work.

I Should – The Arena of Responsibility

I understand that responsibility is in some people’s minds a four-letter word, but not in those who want to achieve true, lasting success that benefits not only themselves, but a great number of people around them. Those who would lead the way to accomplishment must also understand that they have responsibilities. And the man or woman of honor, integrity, and success, lives up to those responsibilities. So what are these responsibilities that we must live by? While I want to encourage you to think about them specifically for your own life and business, there are a few that I believe are for all of us.

To be a person and company of high integrity.
Ultimately, we are only a success to the degree that we are honorable people. This means that we are honest, hard working, and forthright. I don’t think it matters how much money one accumulates if the are not a person of integrity.

To live by the “golden rule.”
And the golden rule isn’t what one of my best friends grew up thinking it was: He who has the gold, makes the rules! No, it is that we will treat others as we want to and expect to be treated.

To our families.
Regardless of the work we do, it is of utmost importance that our families sit atop the priority list. Sometimes I think of all the people I help and work so hard for day by day and realize that none of them will be at my side when I breathe my last breath. My wife and children will fill those spots. Therefore, they get the most from me. I owe it to them. They are important to me and it is my responsibility to be there for them, no matter what my opportunities are elsewhere.

To give to charity.
The more you hear from me, the more you will realize that I am big on the idea of charity. I think one of the things that rounds us out as healthy, successful people is to give away money, time, and possessions, free of all strings. Simply give it away to a cause that you believe in. Make it big. Make it a sacrifice. Instead of a $10 check every now and then, put it into your budget to give away a certain amount every month. At first you will think it is impossible but it will come around. And one of the great benefits to this is that at the end of your life, you will be able to look back and see the difference you have made.
These are just a few areas, but they are the umbrellas that cover the rest of our lives. If we get these right, we are 95% there.

Self Improvement- Motivation Articles Series

4 Effective Tips for Self Improvement

The world today is zooming by and we have to find ways to cope with the speed of changes in order not to be left behind.
The world’s population is growing by the minute and the skills that are available via the standard academic channels are replicating at the same rate. Thus, if we want to succeed in this world, we have to engage in any kind of self improvement effort. If we simply go with the flow and not take the initiative to further our personality and skills, chances are, we will not amount to anything, at all.
Just as a book should not be judged by its cover, we wish you read this entire article on self-improvement before actually making a judgement.
Here are four effective tips that might be of interest to you.

Self-improvement tip 1: Enrol yourself in interesting self help and development classes.
If you really want to stand out, you must have a extra to offer, whether to your personal or business life. Several classes on various topics and activities are available nowadays. Choose those that interest you most, or those that are similar to your chosen career.
Self-improvement tip 2: Maximize all your senses
Learn to listen more carefully, see more clearly and feel more deeply. Initially you will be surprised at this tip, because you do use your five senses daily. However, you will be shocked, upon closer scrutiny, how little you use them. If you learn to be more sensitive to the people around you and your surroundings, the better you will be able to handle lifes’ challenges, whether small or big.
Self-improvement tip 3: Relish your “me” time.
Since a lot of people nowadays focus most of their time and energies on working and making money, “ME” time is probably one of the most precious rewards to yourself. Use your alone time wisely. Reflect on your day, breathe and savour the moment. Try not to waste it on the small stuff and use it to study your life path and see if you are still on the right track. Your alone time is a great time to get yourself back on course.
Self-improvement tip 4: Cherish your relationships.
Man is a social animal, Aristotle (greek philosopher) said. It is inevitable that we socialize. Thus, we must know how to take care of our relationships. Working hard is great, but, remember, money cannot buy the kind of happiness that is obtained from healthy human relationships.
Many of us are now enrolling in various self help courses, not just for skills development, like communication skills and career skills, physical development, like Yoga and boxing, but also for personality building, like meditation and public speaking. Some people even choose to join groups of people with the same interests, like dancing or singing, to further theirs while trying to pass the time.
All in all, we are always seeking ways to better ourselves, not just to be able to adapt to the changing times, but also to move ahead. Presently, simply having a university degree will not suffice anymore. You have to have something extra to offer in order for you to excel.
There are many ways you can improve yourself. In fact, there is no single and uniform self improvement technique for everyone because we all have unique personalities, lives and aspirations. Decide what works best for you and wait for the rewards to come in. We live in a extremely competitive world. We owe it to ourselves to enjoy what career and personal development can bring.
Andrew Chin is a recognized authority on the subject of Self Improvement. His web site http://www.selfimprovementsguide.com provides a wealth of informative articles and resources on everything you will need to know about Self Improvement. All rights reserved. Articles may be reprinted as long as the content and links remains intact and unchanged.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrew_Chin

Self Improvement- Motivation Articles Series

Rabu, 06 Februari 2008

Outsourcing

Outsourcing involves the transfer of the management and/or day-to-day execution of an entire business function to an external service provider.^[2] The client organization and the supplier enter into a contractual agreement that defines the transferred services. Under the agreement the supplier acquires the means of production in the form of a transfer of people, assets and other resources from the client. The client agrees to procure the services from the supplier for the term of the contract. Business segments typically outsourced include information technology, human resources, facilities and real estate management, and accounting. Many companies also outsource customer support and call center functions like telemarketing, customer services, market research, manufacturing and engineering.

Outsourcing and offshoring are used interchangeably in public discourse despite important technical differences. Outsourcing involves contracting with a supplier, which may or may not involve some degree of offshoring. Offshoring is the transfer of an organizational function to another country, regardless of whether the work is outsourced or stays within the same corporation^[3][4].

With increasing globalization of outsourcing companies, the distinction between outsourcing and offshoring will become less clear over time. This is evident in the increasing presence of Indian outsourcing companies in the US and UK. The globalization of outsourcing operating models has resulted in new terms such as nearshoring and rightshoring that reflect the changing mix of locations. This is seen in the opening of offices and operations centers by Indian companies in the U.S. and UK.^[5].^[6]

Multisourcing refers to large (predominantly IT) outsourcing agreements. ^[7] Multisourcing is a framework to enable different parts of the client business to be sourced from different suppliers. This requires a governance model that communicates strategy, clearly defines responsibility and has end-to-end integration.^[8]

Process of outsourcing

Deciding to outsource

The decision to outsource is taken at a strategic level and normally requires board approval. Outsourcing is the divestiture of a business function involving the transfer of people and the sale of assets to the supplier. The process begins with the client identifying what is to be outsourced and building a business case to justify the decision. Only once a high level business case has been established for the scope of services will a search begin to choose an outsourcing partner.

[edit] Supplier proposals

A Request for Proposal (RFP) is issued to the shortlist suppliers requesting a proposal and a price.

Supplier competition

A competition is held where the client marks and scores the supplier proposals. This may involve a number of face-to-face meetings to clarify the client requirements and the supplier response. The suppliers will be qualified out until only a few remain. This is known as down select in the industry. It is normal to go into the due diligence stage with two suppliers to maintain the competition. Following due diligence the suppliers submit a "best and final offer" (BAFO) for the client to make the final down select decision to one supplier. It is not unusual for two suppliers to go into competitive negotiations.

Negotiations

The negotiations take the original RFP, the supplier proposals, BAFO submissions and convert these into the contractual agreement between the client and the supplier. This stage finalizes the documentation and the final pricing structure.

Contract finalization

At the heart of every outsourcing deal is a contractual agreement that defines how the client and the supplier will work together. This is a legally binding document and is core to the governance of the relationship. There are three significant dates that each party signs up to the contract signature date, the effective date when the contract terms become active and a service commencement date when the supplier will take over the services.

Transition

The transition will begin from the effective date and normally run until four months after service commencement date. This is the process for the staff transfer and the take-on of services.

Transformation

The Transformation is the execution of a set of projects to implement the Service Level Agreement (SLA), to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) or to implement new Services. Emphasis is on 'standardisation' and 'centralisation'.

Ongoing service delivery

This is the execution of the agreement and lasts for the term of the contract.

Termination or renewal

Near the end of the contract term a decision will be made to terminate or renew the contract. Termination may involve taking back services (insourcing) or the transfer of services to another supplier.

Reasons for outsourcing

Organizations that outsource are seeking to realize benefits or address the following issues: ^[9][10][11]

Cost savings. The lowering of the overall cost of the service to the business. This will involve reducing the scope, defining quality levels, re-pricing, re-negotiation, cost re-structuring. Access to lower cost economies through offshoring called "labor arbitrage" generated by the wage gap between industrialized and developing nations.^[12]
Cost restructuring. Operating leverage is a measure that compares fixed costs to variable costs. Outsourcing changes the balance of this ratio by offering a move from fixed to variable cost and also by making variable costs more predictable.
Improve quality. Achieve a step change in quality through contracting out the service with a new Service Level Agreement.
Knowledge. Access to intellectual property and wider experience and knowledge.^[13]
Contract. Services will be provided to a legally binding contract with financial penalties and legal redress. This is not the case with internal services.^[14]
Operational expertise. Access to operational best practice that would be too difficult or time consuming to develop in-house.
Staffing issues. Access to a larger talent pool and a sustainable source of skills.
Capacity management. An improved method of capacity management of services and technology where the risk in providing the excess capacity is borne by the supplier.
Catalyst for change. An organization can use an outsourcing agreement as a catalyst for major step change that can not be achieved alone. The outsourcer becomes a Change agent in the process.
Reduce time to market. The acceleration of the development or production of a product through the additional capability brought by the supplier.
Commodification. The trend of standardizing business processes, IT Services and application services enabling businesses to intelligently buy at the right price. Allows a wide range of businesses access to services previously only available to large corporations.
Risk management. An approach to risk management for some types of risks is to partner with an outsourcer who is better able to provide the mitigation.^[15]
Time zone. A sequential task can be done during normal day shift in different time zones - to make it seamlessly available 24x7. Same/similar can be done on a longer term between earth's hemispheres of summer/winter.

Growth Corporate

Bussiness Slides-You need to know what, how, when. where, who

Smart Innovation

Argentine BBB-Study Case

'A good start'- Chilean early childhood program makes a difference

• Late in January, a delegation from Chile visited Harvard to discuss Un Buen Comienzo ("A Good Start"), an early childhood education program undertaken in 2006 by the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), Harvard Medical School (HMS), and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS), with the Chilean Ministries of Education and Health and other local institutions that impart preschool education. The pilot project and its evaluation, sponsored by Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, Centro de Estudios Educar, the World Bank, and Unicef, grew out of Chilean president Michelle Bachelet's stated commitment to make early childhood a priority in her administration.

• The main focus of the project is language and literacy skills, with a concomitant emphasis on parental involvement and child health, particularly pollution-related respiratory diseases and obesity - which affect nearly 20 percent of Chilean children. Meetings covered a wide range of topics, including the intensive evaluation of the project and the impact the program could have on policy debate in Chile and other Latin American countries.

• About two dozen people attended the Jan. 23 session at the David Rockefeller Center to review the progress made thus far. Principal investigators on the project Catherine Snow and Hirokazu Yoshikawa, both professors at HGSE, presided over the meeting. The evening began with a presentation by Andrea Rolla, director of research at the Centro de Estudios Educar in Santiago and director of the project in Chile. "Chile is a middle-income country that goes from the desert to the Patagonias," she said, "so it's very diverse. The economy has done very well, so now our focus is on improving social policy, especially the quality of education."

• Research shows that high-quality preschool education is one of the best investments a country can make in its future, and that language and literacy skills are crucial to lifelong learning. Worldwide, children from low-income families have lower levels of reading comprehension, but in Chile, said Rolla, "More than 50 percent of parents from all different social classes report never reading books to their children, which in general leads to low levels of oral language skills in Chilean children and, later on, low levels of reading comprehension."

25 Lessons from Jack Welch - Management Insight and Leadership Secrets of the Legendary Former CEO of General Electric

1. LeadManagers muddle

2. Manage Less

3. Articulate Your Vision

4. Simplify

5. Get Less Formal

6. Energize Others

7. Face RealityFace

8. See Change as an Opportunity

9. Get Good Ideas from Everywhere

10. Follow up

11. Get Rid of Bureaucracy

12. Eliminate Boundaries

13. Put Values First

14. Cultivate Leaders

15. Create a Learning Culture

16. Involve Everyone

17. Make Everybody a Team Player

18. Stretch

19. Instill Confidence

20. Have Fun

21. Be Number 1 or Number 2

22. Live Quality

23. Constantly Focus on Innovation

24. Live Speed

25. Behave Like a Small Company

HOME: MEDICINE+HEALTH-HOPE in African HIV/AIDS fight-Harvard-developed Internet platform provides real-time HIV medical

• South Africa’s current HIV/AIDS problem is complicated by a parallel epidemic of drug-resistant tuberculosis, said Walker. Add to that a dearth of HIV drugs and the recent failure of a once-promising HIV vaccine.

• That’s where HOPE comes in — an acronym for HIV Online Provider for Education, a Harvard-developed Internet platform for training in HIV medicine.
“The Internet can be used as a tool for HIV medicine throughout the world,” said Rajesh T. Gandhi, director of HIV Clinical Services and HIV Education at MGH. He used HOPE to address the HIGH seminar by remote too, though only from his office in Boston.

• There’s been progress in durable treatments for HIV infection, he said — and even in parts of the world with limited resources antiretroviral therapy is increasingly employed. But training for health care workers does not always keep up with scientific advances, said Gandhi, and opportunities for education are limited by expense and by great distances.

• Telemedicine can help, but it often requires support staff and specialized equipment too expensive and hard to deploy in resource-poor settings. HOPE is a simple and robust alternative. It’s a Web-based voice over-Internet protocol (VoIP) that requires only an Internet connection (high or low bandwidth is OK), computer speakers, and — if you wish to speak — microphones.

• HOPE offers another advantage — conferences that are automatically recorded and archived. That allows what Gandhi called a “blended approach” to learning. Conference goers learn in real time; others can review material later.

• Harvard has been using HOPE for three years now, and organizes twice-monthly HIV education Internet conferences. HOPE technology is based on Centra, a Web-based e-learning platform already commonly used to link businesses all over the world. (Cisco, Microsoft, and others have similar interactivity products.)

Sabtu, 02 Februari 2008

American Megatrend 2010

• Pada waktu itu menjadi ide yang kontroversial karena orang menganggap bagaimana mungkin sebuah informasi menjadi nilai ekonomi, Di dekade 1990-an, information economy menjadi motor penggerak ekonomi sebuah bangsa dan telah menjadi industri bernilai triliunan dolar dimana Amerika menjadi penggerak utama dan pemimpinnya

• Megatrends 2010 meliputi berbagai tren sosial, ekonomi, spiritual yang mengubah kapitalisme ke dalam versinya sendiri yang lebih baru dan menyeluruh. Megatrends 2010 menggambarkan dimensi dalam perubahan

• Karena esensi dari ideal dan kepercayaan membentuk berbagai macam tindakan kita

• Dalam Megatrends 2010, Moral adalah hal yang utama. Karena pencarian moral dan arti kerjaan dan juga keinginan untuk mengalami kedamaian dan tujuan dari sesuatu yang sakral didunia bisnis yang penuh stres, adalah kebenaran yang dalam, yang hidup di hati jutaan orang. Seperti etika, sosial, penghargaan terhadap prestasi kerja

Wendys International ( Contoh Artikel Sponsor 1 )

Wendy's International, Inc. NYSE: WEN is the parent company of Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers. It also owns 70 percent of Cafe Express and 25 percent (fully diluted) of Pasta Pomodoro. The Tim Hortons chain was spun off by Wendy's into a separate company in September 2006. The Baja Fresh chain was sold in October 2006.

John T. Schuessler is chairman of the board and chief executive officer. The corporate headquarters is located in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus.

Versace ( Contoh Artikel Sponsor 2 )

Gianni Versace S.p.A. (IPA: /'ʤɑnni ver'saʧe/) is an Italian clothier founded by Gianni Versace in 1978. After Gianni Versace was killed by Andrew Cunanan on July 15, 1997, his sister Donatella Versace, formerly vice-president, stepped in as creative director of the designing of Versace and his older brother Santo Versace became CEO.

The first Versace boutique was opened in Milan's Via della Spiga in 1978, (though the Versace family are from Reggio Calabria) and its popularity was immediate. Today, Versace is one of the world's leading international fashion houses. Versace designs, markets and distributes luxury clothing, accessories, fragrances, makeup and home furnishings under the various brands of the Versace Group.

Versace's Style Department employs a group of designers and stylists who work in teams. Each team is specifically dedicated to each fashion line or label. These teams operate under the close supervision and guidance of Creative Director, Donatella Versace.

The Best Markets for Your Money

Four out of four investment experts agree: Emerging foreign markets are the place American investors should be looking to put their dollars to work.

That was the lesson if you read investment expert John Mauldin's recent "Thoughts From the Frontline." Mr. Mauldin and his roundtable of research analysts concluded quite without debate that:

"For the first time in a century the US is not the locomotive of global growth -- we are the caboose, bringing up the rear."
"The emerging world in general and China in particular will continue to grow strongly."
"China, India, and probably Vietnam will continue to lead Asia's strong economic growth and the region, with its large population, is now the primary engine of global GDP growth."

Your money and your brain

For most purposes in daily life, your brain is a superbly functioning machine, steering you away from danger while guiding you toward basic rewards like food, shelter and love.

But that brilliant machine can lead you astray when it comes to investing.

Is your brain wired for wealth?

Take our quiz and find out.

1. In Year One, Weeds.com earns $ 2.50 per share. In Year Two, it earns $ 5 per share. In Year Three, it earns $ 10 per share. What is your best estimate of what Weeds.com will earn in Year Four?
$20
$5
$15
How on earth would I know?

You buy high only to sell low. You try to time the market. You follow the crowd. You make the same mistakes again. And again. How come?

We're beginning to get answers. Scientists in the emerging field of "neuroeconomics" - a hybrid of neuroscience, economics and psychology - are making stunning discoveries about how the brain evaluates rewards, sizes up risks and calculates probabilities.

With the wonders of imaging technology we can observe the precise neural circuitry that switches on and off in your brain when you invest. Those pictures make it clear that your investing brain often drives you to do things that make no logical sense - but make perfect emotional sense.

Your brain developed to improve our species' odds of survival. You, like every other human, are wired to crave what looks rewarding and shun what seems risky.

To counteract these impulses, your brain has only a thin veneer of modern, analytical circuits that are often no match for the power of the ancient parts of your mind. And when you win, lose or risk money, you stir up some profound emotions, including hope, surprise, regret and the two we'll examine here: greed and fear.

Understanding how those feelings - as a matter of biology - affect your decision-making will enable you to see as never before what makes you tick, and how you can improve, as an investor.

Greed: The thrill of the chase

Yahoo in China human rights case

Whole websites, including media sources, are eliminated from Yahoo

A human rights group in the US is suing Yahoo for alleged complicity in rights abuses and acts of torture in China.

The World Organization for Human Rights says Yahoo's sharing of information with the Chinese government has led to the arrests of writers and dissidents.

One journalist cited in the case was tracked down and jailed for 10 years for subversion after Yahoo passed on his email and IP address to officials.

Yahoo insists it must comply with local laws in areas where it operates.

But it acknowledges that providing Chinese officials with information has enabled them to make arrests.

In a statement, Yahoo said it supported privacy and free expression and added that it was working with other technology companies to find a way to address human rights concerns.

De-listed sites

The human rights group has brought the case in San Francisco on behalf of the journalist, Shi Tao, and another activist named Wang Xiaoning.

The men's defence lawyer said Yahoo should have asked the Chinese government why it wanted information aboout the two men before handing it over. He said had failed to live up to its ethical responsibilities.

The BBC's David Willis in California says the case has prompted debate about the responsibility of US internet companies to protect the anonymity of users in the countries in which they operate.

Strict laws exist in China to regulate the internet. Shi Tao was jailed for posting comments critical of government corruption on the web.

Yahoo is not the only internet company accused of collaborating with Chinese authorities. Rivals Google freely admit to blocking politically sensitive items on their China website.

Whole websites - including media sources - are eliminated from Yahoo and Google in China.

De-listed sites are skipped over when the search engine trawls the web for results.

The internet firms argue it is better to offer Chinese users some information than none at all.

Marketing Image di Dalam Pemilu Presiden AS 2008

Para kandidat calon presiden Amerika Serikat baik yang berasal dari Partai Republik dan Partai Demokrat berlomba-lomba menampilkan Marketing Image bagi diri mereka masing-masing kepada para pendukungnya supaya dapat terpilih sebagi orang nomor satu di Gedung Putih. Saat ini dalam Marketing Image ada tiga calon kandidat yang paling popular yaitu Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (Demokrat), Barrack Obama (Deokrat), dan John McCain (Republik). Mereka melakukan Marketing Image dengan cara berpidato, berbicara langsung dengan rakyat, korespodensi dengan e-mail, membuat film tentang citra mereka untuk iklan telivisi dan video popular You Tube.

Di dalam kampanye pemilu Presiden AS, sebuah Marketing Image sangat dibutuhkan sekali karena Marketing Image berguna untuk menampilkan kemampuan dari individu yang bersangkutan apakah layak untuk dipilih atau dipercaya untuk menjadi Presiden Amerika Serikat. Hal ini disebabkan menjadi Presiden Amerika Serikat. Hal ini disebabkan menjadi Presiden Amerika Serikat berarti menjadi pemimpin dunia dan tentunya rakyat Amerika Serikat menginginkan presiden yang mempunyai charisma dan pintar, bukan presiden yang jadul.
Di dalam Marketing Image seorang kandidat calon Presiden Amerika Serikat yang pertama akan dilihat adalah keterampilan dia berpidato untuk menjelaskan visi dan misi dia Seandainya individu yang bersangkutan menjadi Presiden Amerika Serikat ini juga dapat digunakan untuk melihat kapasitas intelektual dari individu yang bersangkutan. Kedua individu akan dilhat apakah sukses atau gagal dalam menjalankan pekerjaan sebelumnya. Contohnya Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton yang mewakili Negara Bagian New York mempunyai catatan yang bagus di dalam pekerjaan sebelumnya yaitu ketika menjadi Ibu Negara Amerika Serikat pada jaman pemerintahan Presiden Clinton. Ketiga, individu akan dilihat dari latar belakang pendidikan di Universitas papan atas seperti Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University akan lebih disukai oleh para pemilih dan para pemilih juga ingin melihat latar belakang keluarga apakah seorang individu tersebut berasal dari keluarga baik-baik yang penuh dengan norma dan etika.

Tetapi yang paling terpenting dalam Marketing Image saat ini adalah para calon kandidat Presiden Amerika Serikat harus mampu merangkul para pemilih baru, yaitu kaum muda. Karena kaum muda pada pemilihan presiden 2008 adalah faktor penentu pada saat ini. Bagi kandidat yang akrab dengan teknologi informasi hal ini adalah sebuah keuntungan yang besar karena bisa menjumpai para pemilih baru dengan dialog interaktif memakai fasilitas multimedia di internet. Situs You Tube yang merupakan situs Video yang popular dikalangan generasi baru juga dimanfaatkan oleh para kandidat seperti Barrack Obama dan Hillary Clinton. Marketing Image yang mereka para kandidat juga harus mampu menarik kaum muda. Para kandidat juga bisa menawarkan program-program kampanye yang sesuai dengan aspirasi kaum muda.

Microsoft Access

Microsoft Office Access, previously known as Microsoft Access, is a relational database management system from Microsoft which combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface. It is a member of the 2007 Microsoft Office system.

Access can use data stored in Access/Jet, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, or any ODBC-compliant data container. Skilled software developers and data architects use it to develop application software. Relatively unskilled programmers and non-programmer "power users" can use it to build simple applications. It supports some object-oriented techniques but falls short of being a fully object-oriented development tool.

Access was also the name of a communications program from Microsoft, meant to compete with ProComm and other programs. This Access proved a failure and was dropped.^[1] Years later Microsoft reused the name for its database software.

Microsoft to Bring Back SideWinder Brand

SideWinder is back.

Microsoft Corp., citing a resurgence in PC gaming, says it will reintroduce the SideWinder brand of gaming peripherals, starting with a new mouse that will be released in October.

The SideWinder name was discontinued four years ago. Microsoft says the decision to come out with a SideWinder mouse was prompted in part by the popularity of its general-purpose IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 PC mouse among gamers.

It will be the first SideWinder-branded mouse. Previously, the SideWinder line included PC game pads, joysticks and steering wheels. The SideWinder brand was introduced in 1995.

The product line was dropped in 2003 because of the rising popularity of console gaming at the time, said Matt Barlow, director of worldwide marketing and business development in Microsoft's hardware group.

"We saw double-digit declines in these particular businesses around the world," he said. However, in the past 12 months, he said, Microsoft has seen a revival in PC gaming.


	The new SideWinder mouse

The SideWinder mouse, to retail for $79.95, comes with a wider scroll wheel, customizable weight, specially positioned buttons and other features meant to appeal to gamers. It also has a small, built-in LCD screen to display the mouse's DPI setting and help users record macros, small programs that automate specific moves in games.

Barlow declined to talk about specific plans for future SideWinder-branded products, but he said the introduction of the mouse is just the first step in bringing back the name.

Microsoft's renewed interest in gaming hardware was apparent last year, when it introduced a mouse called Habu with gaming peripheral company Razer.

The Microsoft Hardware group is marking its 25th anniversary this year. An anomaly within the software company, the group competes with companies such as Logitech.

Apart from making mice, keyboards and other peripherals, the group has contributed to projects such as Microsoft's Xbox video-game console and Surface tabletop computer. Tom Gibbons, Microsoft corporate vice president of specialized devices and applications, said the hardware unit has been profitable since its inception.

Product Management

Product management is an organizational function within a company dealing with the planning or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle. Product Management is also a collective term used to describe the broad sum of diverse activities performed in the interest of delivering a particular product to market.

Marketing

Key concepts

Product / Price / Promotion
Placement / Service / Retail
Market research
Marketing strategy
Marketing management

Promotional content

Advertising / Branding
Direct marketing / Personal Sales
Product placement / Public relations
Publicity / Sales promotion
Underwriting

Promotional media

Printing / Publication / Broadcasting
Out-of-home / Internet marketing
Point of sale / Novelty items
Digital marketing / In-game
Word of mouth

How to perform SWOT Analysis?

The SWOT analysis is a valuable step in your situational analysis. Assessing your firm’s strengths, weaknesses, market opportunities, and threats through a SWOT analysis is a very simple process that can offer powerful insight into the potential and critical issues affecting a venture.

• The SWOT analysis begins by conducting an inventory of internal strengths and weaknesses in your organization. You will then note the external opportunities and threats that may affect the organization, based on your market and the overall environment. Don’t be concerned about elaborating on these topics at this stage; bullet points may be the best way to begin. Capture the factors you believe are relevant in each of the four areas. You will want to review what you have noted here as you work through your marketing plan. The primary purpose of the SWOT analysis is to identify and assign each significant factor, positive and negative, to one of the four categories, allowing you to take an objective look at your business. The SWOT analysis will be a useful tool in developing and confirming your goals and your marketing strategy.

• Some experts suggest that you first consider outlining the external opportunities and threats before the strengths and weaknesses. Marketing Plan Pro will allow you to complete your SWOT analysis in whatever order works best for you. In either situation, you will want to review all four areas in detail.

Learning to Make the Move to CEO-Harvard Business School

• Launched in 1945, AMP is the longest-running executive education program in the world. And at 8 weeks, it demands a serious time commitment that may at first seem unthinkable to a busy executive who will be asked to cut off all contact with his or her organization—in other words, leave the BlackBerry at home.

• The AMP classroom is full of experienced leaders with much to contribute to each other.

• "Everyone in this program has earned their stripes at a very senior leadership level," Simons notes. "It's important to have that kind of person because participants work in groups and in very intensive classroom situations. The ability to teach and to learn from one another is a big part of the AMP experience." Applicants are generally 3 to 5 years away from achieving the rank of CEO or its equivalent, and they must be endorsed and sponsored by their company's highest levels of management.

Interview with Sir John Templeton by Eleanor Laise

Sir John Speaks --- He bought low during the Depression, sold high during the Internet boom and made more than a few good calls in between; Sir John Templeton, dean of contrarians, tells us where to invest now.

A 1934 Yale graduate and Rhodes scholar, Templeton has a voracious
appetite for information. The small-town Tennessee native became known
as the Marco Polo of his Oxford class, thanks to a round-the-world
postgraduation jaunt. In his late 20s he opened his own
money-management firm and began to put international investing on the
map. His flagship Templeton Growth fund has posted a 13.8 percent
annualized return over 50 years, well ahead of the Standard & Poor's
500's 11.1 percent.

SmartMoney: How did a kid from rural Tennessee become a pioneer of
global value investing?

John Templeton: In Tennessee I didn't meet anybody who owned a share of anything. At Yale there were hundreds of boys from wealthy families, but not a single one who was investing outside one nation. I thought that was just not sensible. Surely they'd get better results if they
searched everywhere rather than limiting their search to one country. Then I investigated the investment counsel profession and couldn't find any investment counselor who specialized in helping people invest outside America. So I saw a wide-open opportunity.

J.K. Rowling to speak at Commencement January 17, 2008

•

• J.K. Rowling, author of the world-renowned “Harry Potter” novels, will be the principal speaker during the Afternoon Exercises of Harvard University’s 357th Commencement on June 5, 2008.

• “Perhaps no one in our time has done more than J.K. Rowling to inspire young people to experience the excitement and the sheer joy of reading,” said President Drew Faust. “Her tales of Harry, Ron, and Hermione and their Hogwarts adventures have cast a spell on millions of readers around the world. Harvard isn’t exactly Hogwarts, but I’m sure that her visit with us this June will be a moment of magic for J.K. Rowling’s many admirers across the University.”

• Rowling’s seven “Harry Potter” novels, published from 1997 to 2007, are among the most popular and beloved books in history. Countless readers have eagerly awaited each new volume chronicling Harry’s life as a young, orphaned wizard possessed of extraordinary powers and confronted by formidable challenges as he and his friends progress through the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

• Global sales of the “Harry Potter” books have reportedly surpassed 375 million copies. The titles have been translated into more than 65 languages and are available in more than 200 countries. The most recent volumes rank among the fastest-selling books of all time, and each of the seven titles has risen to the top of The New York Times best-seller list. When the final novel in the series was published last July, Harvard Square was the site of a night-long festival, and thousands of people, many in their finest wizard costumes, flocked to Harvard Yard to hear a concert by Harry and the Potters, Draco and the Malfoys, and the Hungarian Horntails.

Housing starts at decade low

Housing starts and permits both fell to their lowest levels in more than a decade, as the latest readings on the battered housing and homebuilding markets came in below expectations Thursday.

Housing starts fell 6.1 percent to an annual rate of 1.38 million in July from a revised 1.47 million rate in June. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast starts would fall to a 1.41 million pace in June.

Current Mortgage Rates

Type Overall avgs

30 yr fixed mtg 6.12%

15 yr fixed mtg 5.79%

30 yr fixed jumbo mtg 7.18%

5/1 ARM 6.21%

5/1 jumbo ARM 6.60%

The latest reading is the lowest level of starts since January 1997 and is down nearly 21 percent from the year-earlier level.

Starts of single-family homes fell even more sharply, dropping 7.3 percent to just over a 1 million annual rate, the lowest since December 1996 and the second lowest level in more than 12 years.

Building permits, which are often seen as a snapshot on builders' view on the state of the market, fell to an annual rate of 1.37 million from the June figure of 1.41 million, marking the lowest level since October 1996. Economists had forecast a rate of 1.4 million.

Permits for single-family homes fell to just over a 1 million pace, the lowest level in more than 12 years.

Business Plan

A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals. It may also contain background information about the organization or team attempting to reach those goals.

The business goals being attempted may be for-profit or non-profit. For-profit business plans typically focus on financial goals. Non-profit and government agency business plans tend to focus on service goals. Business plans may also target changes in perception and branding by the customer, client, tax-payer, or larger community. A business plan that has changes in perception and branding as its primary goals is called a marketing plan.

Business plans are decision making tools. There is no fixed content for a business plan. Rather the content and format of the business plan is determined by the goals and audience. A business plan should contain whatever information is needed to decide whether or not to pursue a goal.

Business Continuity Planning ( B C P )

A completed BCP cycle results in a formal printed manual available for reference before, during, and after disruptions have occurred. Its purpose is to reduce adverse stakeholder impacts determined by both the disruption's scope (who and what it affects) and duration (how bad, implications last for hours, months etc). Measureable business impact analysis (BIA) "zones" (areas in which hazards and threats reside)include civil, economic, natural, technical, secondary and subsequent.