Archive for June 29, 2011

Small Business is a Big Competitor of Global Business

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A small business is a relatively small and privately owned business as compared to a bigger organization. It has low number of employees and its sales volume is low. These are owned privately. They can have partners or sole proprietorship. The size of small business organizations varies according to the demographic factors like they can have 10-50 employees.

Global business is mainly some transactions or processes executed at international levels by the companies which have their operations in more than one country. Their expenditure and workforce is bigger than the small business. Their objectives, goals and targets are high.

Small businesses in the Information Technology category are examples of small business. They are mainly those companies which provide the technical support services like server management services and network management. The main advantages are they can be started on a part-time basis at a low budget with low manpower and other required resources. They can easily maintain their own niche markets according to the demographic changes. The small business owner can easily become confidant to its customers which makes the company goodwill in the market. The owner can easily take its own decisions independently. Big organizations or MNCs have other business advantages.

Big firms provide relevant training programs according to the products or services to its employees which is beneficial for the enhancement of the productivity of the workers. If they have operation in a second nation they can introduce services and other technologies with makes the growth rate high. Remote IT infrastructure management services provider reduce the time of the client in the networking related and other infrastructure maintenance issues. They contribute to taxation and make a path for the foreign exchange in the country. They also contribute with the growth and training for other small firms of other industries as they have their operations with multiple business sectors.

Many customer bases choose small business services or products against the big ones. For example like in the case of fast moving consumer goods. Most of the FMCG products you have in your house but don’t know about the backend or the management of the company. Because in those products many belongs to the small companies which have created their niche markets in you segment. Their price are less and easily available. The products are easy to use and have good market value. If the customer chooses big firm’s product and found some inadequacy then it is difficult change or replace but it is easy to switch over to other provider in case of small business as it is not so costly compared to the previous one. These are some of the important things which make them strong against the big organizations.

Category: global business / Tags: ,

The Baltic Dry Index and its Importance in International Trade

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The Index is a commercial statistical set of numerical factors describing various shipping

criteria. It was first officially codified in 1985, however, the history of the earlier

rudimentary basis of the Index dates back over two hundred years to the Virginia and

Maryland coffee house on Threadneedle Street, London. Various individuals having

commercial interests met at the coffee house to discuss the various opportunities in the

Baltic trade as early as 1744.

 

Within seventy years the meetings were transferred to the Antwerp Tavern where the

spirit of greed fiercely gripped the participants. If it were not for the formation of a group

of local leaders the frenzy that captured the Tavern group would have sunk the entire

assembly. These chiefs acted to standardize the group by organized regulation of the

market house including membership rules. As time went on, the system evolved so that

the by the year 1900 the Baltic Exchange would receive the London Shipping Exchange

into its membership.

 

In its long life the Baltic Exchange would create several cargo statistics, suffer terrorist

bombings and change locations several times to its present location of 38 St. Mary Axe.

The Exchange’s current Baltic Dry Index (BDI) dates to the year 1985 as cited

previously. It tracks the route and time as well as materials and shipping for various

commodities. In particular, the statistics cover several different types of freight container

ships. Amongst the types of vessels indexed are the Handymax, Panamax, Capesize dry

bulk and Supramax ships.

 

All of these factors are correlated together into a system that daily tracks costs from the

various routes folded into index. Brokers are contacted so as to aggregate the raw

information into a uniform whole providing market participants a concise and easy to use

data stream. In this manner the supply demand economic fundamentals between goods,

shipping rates and demand for the same can be assessed accurately and efficiently. All of

this is effective at rapidly determining the rise and fall of raw materials good as a result

of increased demand. As an example, when a particular ore or raw material has an

increase in demand the index will increase and the reverse is true a drop in material prices

has a concomitant drop in the index.

 

It should be understood that ships are static commodities since it takes a long time frame

to produce one. Thus, any increase or decrease in demand will directly relate to the rise

and fall of the index as described previously. Since the BDI closely tracks demand across

a variety of commodities, the index is viewed as a leading indicator of global economic

performance. The recent economic crisis beginning in 2007 saw a high watermark for

the BDI above 11,000. However, this peak only signaled the beginning of the end as it

fell in a crash diving to less then 10% of its highs. As a result, ships world wide began to

be parked by owners highlighting the global economic meltdown still underway.

Whatever happens to the world economy, the historical Baltic Dry Index will provide a

broad and early indicator to be watched by those in the know.

 

Category: international trade / Tags: ,

Workshops At Brain International School, Vikas Puri In 2009

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Workshop No.1

Topic- ‘Class Management And Understanding Adolescents’

Conducted by- Mrs. Dimple Kaur (Counselor/ Educationist-Times Group)

Venue- Brain International School

Date- 19-06-09

A workshop on motivation, class management and understanding adolescents was conducted whereby certain problems of the teachers and students were along with their solutions were discussed. ‘Interest’ was one tool to keep the motivation going as per the workshop. The resource person discussed about the ‘5′ stages of motivation-

Pre contemplation

Contemplation

Preparation

Action

Maintenance

Workshop No.2

Topic- ‘How to be successful’

Conducted by- Ramakrishna mission

Venue- Brain International School

Date-24-07-09

The students of classes VII-IX attended a workshop conducted by the ‘Ramakrishna Mission’ on the topic ‘How to be Successful’

The resource person introduced the topic of success by asking the students about the major achievements in their lives. A slide presentation with detailed explanation of the faces of success with various stages of life was shown.

Case studies of various personalities and what their keys to success are was also studied in detail.

Workshop No. 3

Topic-Natural and Manmade Disasters (Street play)

Conducted by- Delhi disaster management authority

Venue- Brain International School

Date-12-08-09

A group of actors and performers from the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, Govt. of NCT of Delhi and UNDP Disaster Risk Management Programme, conducted a play on the stage for all the students and teachers on how we can be prepared during an emergency situation like a sudden earthquake or fire.

The concept of ‘DROP’, ‘COVER’ and ‘HOLD’ during an earthquake and checking preparedness like:

Food (ready to eat)

Water

First Aid Kit

Clothing and bedding

Torch, Knife, soap etc.

Emergency supplies etc. were given in the form of a fun loving session, on the stage. As per the Seismic Zoning, map, Delhi lies in the High Risk Zone IV and is liable to be affected by earthquake of high intensity So, the street play made their motto clear that,

‘A prepared community is a Safe community’

Workshop No. 4

Topic-Introduction to Cubs & Bulbuls & Scouts and Guides

Conducted by- Mr. Pramod

Venue- Brain International School

Date-20-9-2009

The students were divided into different groups (patrols). Bulbuls were asked to name their patrols on bird’s names and cubs named their patrols after animals. The different patrols then chose their leader and second leader. They were asked to maintain a notebook and write one good deed they do everyday, in that notebook. They were also asked to enter the names and contact details of all the members of their patrol. The students were taught some ‘yells’. The students were given certain situations and asked to present an act on the given situation, as a team, to promote team spirit.

4th Nov, 2009

All the patrols of Cubs and Bulbuls presented their acts one by one. The students were encouraged to frame their own yells, on the spot, after every performance and were taught a new song- “Hum khana kha rahe hain kator dan ka………………”

The students were asked to enter this song in their notebooks and were given a briefing on the kind of behavior that is expected from cubs and bulbuls and they promised to adhere to it.

Scouts and Guides

The students were divided into different groups (patrols). Guides were asked to name their patrols on names of birds and Scouts named their patrols after animals. The different patrols then chose their leader and second leader. They were asked to maintain a notebook and write one good deed they do everyday, in that notebook. They were also asked to enter the names and contact details of all the members of their patrol. The students were taught some ‘yells’. To promote team spirit, the students were asked to present an act (as a team), on the given situations.

Category: international business school / Tags: ,