April 2023 - Page 4 of 12 - BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

Why Should You Become a Seller on Fiverr?

Using Fiverr will allow you to start generating income online as quickly as possible, by selling products and services that are only $5 per “Gig.”

This sales model is designed to offer an affordable option for Buyers who need these products and services, but may not have the cash to hire a provider who charges by the hour, with steep minimums.

Some things that you wish to offer may seem to be worth more that $5 at times, but if you can find way to create a system or template for fulfilling your Fiverr orders, this is a proven way to sell all sorts of services and even some types of physical products.

The demand for these “small services” starting at only $5 per Gig has people worldwide discovering the buying power of just $5 on Fiverr. Being 100% free to join, with no fees for the Buyer, gives Fiverr quite the large community of Buyers just waiting to check out your latest Gig.

The popularity of the Fiverr website will bring you a large amount of traffic to your Gigs, with little to no effort on your part, which will help to ensure that you get plenty of sales for your products and services.

It is important that you set up your Fiverr profile as soon as possible, so that potential Buyers know who they’re dealing with. A good profile builds confidence in the Buyer, making them more likely to order from you.

Here are some quick tips to get up and running as a Fiverr Seller quickly, easily, and successfully.

Your Username

A username should be chosen that is relevant to your services and products.

Social media platforms such as Twitter may help you direct your Twitter followers to Fiverr for your Gigs, so make your username short, sweet and meaningful.

This will help your customers understand your business on Fiverr and know what it is all about.

You can also opt for your own name, or a favorite personal or business type username that you use on other websites.

Don’t make it too complicated, just in case a Buyer needs to Search for you on Fiverr. You want them to be able to spell your username correctly without much effort. This will make it easier to find the Gigs that you are offering by searching on your username.

Always stay inviting and friendly as possible when choosing your Fiverr username.

Your Profile Photo

The profile picture that you choose to upload is very important.

Choosing a nice photo for your profile avatar will allow your customers to put a “face” to your name and your business.

You can use a photo of yourself, or a graphic that represents what your Gigs or your business are all about. You can also create personalized drawings or graphics for your portrait.

Your Bio

Adding a few sentences about yourself, or the business that you plan to develop on Fiverr, is very helpful. This will make your account more personable than simply creating the account and then listing things to sell.

Are You At Your Peak?

Do you know if you are an early bird or a night owl, or perhaps something in between? It is important to know what time of day you are typically at your most alert and therefore at your best for doing important activities. This is called your peak time. You want to schedule your most important activities during your peak time so they get the best you have to offer. Below is a quick test to determine your peak time so you can become a better time manager. To take the test, merely place a check mark next to the items that most closely resemble you.

1. You are chipper in the morning!

2. You wonder why on earth you have to get up so early.

3. When doing business, you prefer getting down to work before lunch.

4. A few hours after returning from lunch, you do your best work.

5. You would never plan to hold a meeting near the end of a workday, but you might schedule one at the time you come into the office.

6. Planning meetings after 3:00 PM is your standard operating procedure when you have that responsibility.

7. You often complete your business phone calls before noon.

8. You mostly talk with customers and associates on the phone late in the work day.

9. Bed time usually comes before the late evening news.

10. When you go to bed in the evening, it may already be the next day!

If you selected mostly ODD numbers, you are probably an early bird, otherwise known as a morning person. Although considered abnormal by a few for an individual, this is when people are most effective in groups. When planning your day, you should put your highest priority items on your schedule for the morning. Also plan any meetings with others between 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM. Planning to hold your meetings at a time more convenient to others will insure more attend and few are late.

If you selected mostly EVEN numbers, you are most likely a night owl, otherwise known as a late-day person. Some people consider this to be closer to normal for most individuals, but there really is no “average” person. If you don’t work evenings, then you should plan your highest priority items for late afternoon. If you want to do your work during your peak time, then you should consider others when planning your meetings and schedule them late morning or between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM so others can get off work on time. Since you like working later hours (both start and stop times), you can stay at the office to do meeting follow-up while the early birds go home.

If you came out with an even balance between odd and even numbers, take the test again. Currently it shows you are confused about who you really are.

The Secrets for Successful Revenue in Digital Marketing – Benchmarking Process

According to the British Quality Association (1989) characterized TQM as follows:

“TQM is a corporate business the board reasoning which perceives that the client needs and business objectives are equivalent”.

The accomplishment of significant worth is in this manner achieved by near and dear incorporation and duty, given to a relentless improvement measure, with quantifiable level of execution by totally concerned.

The Basic Stages in Problem Solving are:

– Identify the issue, alongside progress objectives:

– Develop a System Orientations as follows:

A bit of the General Tools to Benchmark are:

(I) Cause and Effect Diagram (Ishikawa Sketch Diagram)

Conditions and sensible outcomes diagram helps with reviewing the assorted anticipated explanations behind an issue or situation. With this quality control instrument, one can assess the contributing components as arrangements and subcategories. You could fuse and find the hidden driver of an issue; uncover the bottlenecks in your cycles and perceive where and why a cycle isn’t working.

(ii) PERT

PERT speaks to Program Evaluation Review Technique. High-spirited charts are gadgets used to plan tasks inside an endeavor – making it less difficult to schedule and sort out partners accomplishing the work as a TEAMWORK.

Proactive diagrams were made during the 1950s to assist manage the creation of weapons and assurance envisions for the US Navy.

(iii) TAGUCHI Methods

The Taguchi procedure for quality control is an approach to manage planning that underlines the pieces of creative work (Research &Development), thing plan and headway in reducing the occasion of defects and disillusionments in made items.

(iv) KANBAN

Kanban is a system for managing the creation of things with a weight on consistent conveyance while not overburdening the improvement gathering. Like Scrum, Kanban is a cycle or cycle expected to gatherings to chip away at groups viably and with the standards of collaboration for non-stop achievement.

(v) JIT (Just in Time Principle)

These are the 5 essential principles of JIT Management:

Total Quality Management, Production Management, Supplier Management, Inventory Management, and Human Resource Management.

JIT won’t suffer if there is definitely not a strong emphasis on TQM (Total Quality Management).

(vi) BATNA

Is the ability to perceive an arbitrator most ideal choice as opposed to a Negotiated-Agreement, is among one of the various bits of information mediators search for when characterizing bargain making and trade systems.

If your current game-plan shows up at a gridlock, what’s your another Best Alternative.

I immovably suggest you read the book ‘Getting to Yes’ by William Ury.

Or on the other hand simultaneously, I recommend you read ‘Moving beyond NO ‘ by William Ury if your values and principles don’t agree to the customers / clients with a win-win deal.

(vii) Poka – Yoke

Poka-Yoke is a Japanese articulation that means “bungle fixing”, “botch sealing” or “coincidental bumble expectation”.

A Poka-Yoke is any instrument in any cycle that empowers a stuff executive to keep a Strategic Distance from Mismanagement or Miscalculating.

Its inspiration is to dispense with by Preventing, Adjusting, or Causing to Notice Human Mistakes as they occur.

(viii) Kaizen

Kaizen is a thought symbolic business practices that tirelessly improve all limits and incorporate all agents from the CEO to the consecutive development framework workers.

Kaizen is the Sino-Japanese word for “advancement and ceaseless improvement”.

(ix) Mission Statement – Have a convincing Statement of Purpose, with Brand Esteem, your Moral Methodology Systems and Standard centered organization in all times of your Digital Marketing approaches and prepares.

(x) CIT – (Continuous Improvement Team):

Nonstop Improvement Team a deliberate group from a comparable work fragment sitting reliably to improve a particular cycle, cycle or action

(xi) CAT (Corrective Action Taken): A work pack or Team under the activity of the local manager outlined to deal with a particular issue.

A segment of the Specific 7 Quality Control Tools are according to the accompanying:

STAGE (1) – STRATIFICATION: is portrayed as the show of organizing data, people, and articles into specific social affairs or layers… This data grouping and examination methodology confines the data with the goal that models can be seen and is seen as one of the seven basic quality instruments.

STAGE (2) – TALLY SHEET or Check Sheet is a structure (record) used to assemble data continuously at the region where the data is delivered. The data it gets can be quantitative or emotional. Exactly when the information is quantitative, the check sheet is sometimes called a tally sheet.

STAGE (3) – HISTOGRAM: It resembles a Bar Chart, anyway a Histogram bundles numbers into ranges.The height of each bar shows the quantity of fall into each span. Likewise, you pick what scopes to use! Model: Height of Olive Trees

STAGE (4) – PARETO ANALYSIS: is a regular strategy supportive where various potential diagrams are weighing for thought. Essentially, the issue solver assesses the favorable position passed on by every action, by then picks probably the best exercises that pass on a total bit of leeway reasonably close to the maximal possible one.

STAGE (5) – Cause and Effect Diagram: Ishikawa diagrams are causal graphs made by Kaoru Ishikawa that show the possible explanations behind a specific event. Typical occupations of the Ishikawa plot are thing plan and quality flaw expectation to recognize potential factors causing an overall effect.

STAGE (6) – Scatter Diagram: A disperse plot is such a plot or mathematical framework using Cartesian bearings to show regards for regularly two elements for a lot of data. If the centers are coded, one additional factor can be appeared.

STAGE (7) – Control Chart: A Control Chart shows how a cycle varies after some time, while perceiving uncommon explanations behind assortment and changes in execution. Like a run diagram, it fuses quantifiably made Upper and Lower Control Limits.

Watch the Benchmarking by Robert C Camp on YouTube for more details.

[Source / Reference: Dr. D. D. Sharma (Total Quality Management – Principle, Practices & Cases)

Why Is WebHostingHub Shared Hosting the Most Affordable and Reliable Hosting?

“WebHostingHub” presents to its customers high-quality services and too many different plans for hosting their websites. Each plan includes other several packages to meet different needs and the growing demands that always change according to the size of the business and the surrounding circumstances. The price of the packages differs according the services that are presented. There are different options for payment to suit customers’ needs and their budgets. Among the plans that are offered by WebHostingHub is reseller hosting. This plan includes different packages and each package offers different tools, features and price.

The reseller hosting offers eight packages to be able to decide the best package for you according to your demands and budget. The packages start with Starter plan and the highest plan is Extreme which offers all the needed services for a reseller but they are also offered at a higher price than other packages which are lower in the offered services. The prices start at $3.99 per month when you pay for two years in advance.

The first package which is Starter offers 1 GB for disk space, 20 GB for bandwidth, hosting unlimited domains, private name servers, free templates, Ruby on Rails, search engine submission, instant and full backups, guarantees 99.99% uptime, unlimited e-mail accounts POP3, web mail, mailing list, spam assassin, unlimited add-on domains, unlimited sub-domains, unlimited FTP accounts, front page extension and shared IP address.

The company also offers the latest version of cPanel which is the best and most advanced control panel in the field of hosting websites and it is necessary for controlling websites, Fantastico Deluxe for installing scripts, RvSkin which is a multi-language panel, password and mail managers, spam filtering, hotlink protection, instant counter, guest book, MySQL databases and commerce tools. The Starter plan does not offer site builders, Clientexec or WHMCS, Softaculous and video and audio streaming.

In addition to all the features and tools that are presented through the basic and first plan which is Starter, the highest plan which is called Extreme also includes unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, two site builders, Clientexec or WHMCS, video and audio streaming and Softaculous which is a leading script auto installer that helps to install the most popular scripts easily and quickly with just one click. WebHostingHub presents to its customers a free ENOM account which allows you to offer domain registration services for your customers at low prices and private name servers to host your customers’ domains on your branded name servers instead of using the name server of the company.

WebHostingHub provides its customers with a perfect 24/7 support to answer all of their questions and handle all the problems that they may face. It offers different and several support channels to contact the support team such as e-mail, live chat, phone, Fax and ticketing support system. You can use the knowledge base to look for an answer for your question.

There is also a 45-day money-back guarantee that allows you to try the services that you get for 45 days to make sure that they can help you to achieve your goals. In case you find during that time that the services are not satisfactory, then you will get a full refund without asking you any question. There are no contracts that force you to stay with the company and prevent you from cancelling your account because you are afraid of being penalized.

WebHostingHub presents summer special offer on reseller hosting packages for a limited time. This offer provides you with 20% off on Price Standard and higher plans, free double bandwidth, one month free when you pay for one year in advance and three months free on the 2-year payment.

Ford Motor Company – Case Study

Background (General Facts)

Ford Motors is one of three leading automotive manufacturing companies in the United States. Based in Michigan in 1903 by Henry ford and grew to reach revenue of $150 billion and more than 370,000 employees by 1996 [1]. In the 1970’s, the automobile market for the major auto makers – General Motors (GM), Ford, and Chrysler- was crunched by competition from foreign manufactures such as Toyota and Honda. In 1999, Ford acquired the Swedish Volvo model in an attempt to compete in the foreign market and expand to other regions. Furthermore, Ford launched a full organization re-engineering business process plan called “Ford 2000” aiming at reestablishing the company’s infrastructure. The process meant reduction in their Vehicle Centers (VCs) to only five covering the operations that spanned 200 countries. It also meant cutting redundancies and requiring Information Technology (IT) to be the driving force and the link between Ford centers worldwide.

In building Ford’s IT infrastructure, the company focused on implementing a setup that supported the TCP/IP communication protocol based on the U.S. department of Defense requirements. At those days, Ford internal network was meant to serve files transfer unlike most companies that used the network mainly for email communications. Throughout the 1990’s, Ford developed a cost effective Global Enterprise Network Integration (GENI) process to link all its locations compromising on the type of the connection and the cabling in favor of full coverage. During the same time, Ford started building its Web Farm, which was basically a set of hardware and software managed by a team for building Ford’s public website. The work started by publishing documents for technical references and moved to more advanced images from a live auto show. As a result, the website received 1 million visits a day in less than 2 years after its official launch. Throughout the end of the 90’s, Ford established its web services by increasing the amount of information published, building more intelligent and standard web application in 12 weeks period, purchasing more Netscape browsers for setup on its users’ machines, and creating a B2B server to allow the suppliers secured access to Ford’s Intranet.

In the path towards service cost reduction and bringing more business through the web, Ford worked closely with its competitors in the U.S. market GM and Chrysler to establish what came to be known as “Automotive Network Exchange” (ANX) certificate. The protocols aimed at providing a unified communications standard through the Internet to enable suppliers to provide common technology for all manufacturers. Moreover, Ford focused on making information on its web site more accessible and useful by deploying a team to manage the process of adding and updating information based on an analysis of how humans deal with information. One final aspect of Fords endeavor was to try to build a model through its infrastructure that benefited from the model implemented by Dell computers to improve their supply chain and delivery process. The direct model would not work well for automotives as it would with computers, as a result Ford worked on its retailing network remodeling and identifying what would eventually give it the extra edge in delivery time.

Enterprise Architecture Issues

Ford’s regional expansion to address the competition for market shares demanded cost management for the infrastructure upgrades
IT infrastructure places limitations on the type of application development based on the platforms
Easy access to information and prompt delivery of vital data to key individuals requires proper knowledge managementOrganizations reengineering and process remodeling is necessary when adapting new technologies to maintain the cost and increase efficiency
Supply chain errors and delays can severely affect the progress of the business and the market value of the corporation

Analysis

Infrastructure Upgrade

Since the inception of the Internet in the 1960’s, much effort has been made in standardizing how computers connect to it. In 1982, the International Organization for Standards (ISO) realized that during that period many ad hoc networking systems were already using the TCP/IP protocol for communications and thus adapted it as a standard in its model for the Internet network [2]. The main driver for IP convergence, at that period, was the growth in data traffic through wide area networks (WANs) established by local companies. Furthermore, in 1991, the Internet was open for commercial use, and that demanded a reduction in the total cost of operating the network to cope with 1 million Internet hosts that materialized in only 1-year time. Telecommunications companies like AT&T understood the potential and worked on standardizing the network offering voice services over IP networks that managed the separation between voice and data transmission [3].

At the same time, Ford had launched its plan to update its infrastructure, and seized the opportunity brought by the global movement of integrating the voice, fax transmission network with data transmission and expanded its WAN to include its offices in Europe and elsewhere. The financial benefits also came from the fact that Ford adapted the TCP/IP protocol from the beginning and made sure that all its technical infrastructure upgrades adhere to the standards. This made the transition of its system to the Internet as cost effective as it could be.

Web Technologies

Intranets employ the hypertext and multimedia technology used on the Internet. Prior to 1989, when Tim burners-Lee invented the Web [4], most applications used standard development languages such as C and C++ to create desktop applications that were proprietary and dependent on the platform. For example, applications running on a command-based operating system such as UNIX would not run under Windows, and those working for PCs might not work on Apple computers and vice versa [5]. The invention of HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) introduced a new model for applications that conform to the standards provided by a single program, the “Web Browser”. Unlike standard applications, the browser brought a unified interface that had a very fast learning curve. Users seem to require no additional training to work with web browsers. Furthermore, system administrators did not have to spend time installing upgrades on users’ machines, since the Intranet client/server architecture facilitated all the updates through the connection with the web server [6].

Since Ford established its Intranet, it was aiming at building web applications through the initial analysis of “Mosaic”, the early form of web browsers. The technical department at Ford used web languages to create the first web site in 1995. In 1996, the team started building applications making use of the unified “Netscape” browser that was deployed on all machines at the company, and working on a standard template to cut on the development life cycle. There was a substantial cut in training cost due to the user-friendly interface of web applications. Furthermore, the speed of development made vital applications available to different individuals across the company. For example, the B2B site allowed suppliers remote and secured access to various sections of Ford’s Intranet. In addition, the development team created an application as a virtual teardown on Ford’s website where Ford’s engineers could examine parts of competitors’ cars and evaluate any new technologies. The alternative would have been an actual trip to a physical location where Ford tears down cars to examine the parts.

Knowledge Management

While there are many definitions for knowledge, each company might adapt its own based on how it analysis data and information to acquire knowledge. The University of Kentucky, for example, defines knowledge as “a vital organization resource. It is the raw material, work-in process, and finished good of decision-making. Distinct types of knowledge used by decision makers include information, procedures, and heuristics, among others… ” [7].

Organizations go through different activities to manage the amount of information they collect to form the knowledge base of the company. Activities include creating databases of best practices and market intelligence analysis, gathering filtering and classifying data, incorporating knowledge into business applications used by employees, and developing focal points for facilitating knowledge flow and building skills [8].

Ford was excited about the traffic it was receiving on the Web site and everyone was publishing all the material they have on desk on the Intranet. Nevertheless, there was a growing concern about the usability and usefulness of the material people were adding. As a result, Ford created a “Knowledge Domain Team” to build complete information in nine areas that were identified as vital to the business. The process Ford took was based on surveys and specialists input in how people perceive information, and what is considered vital and what is distracting in the structure of Ford’s website. The aim behind the initiative was to reduce the time individuals spent in searching for information through proper indexing of the website content, and making sure that what was important could be accessed in due time, and what is trivial did not overwhelm the researcher with thousands of results.

Business Re-engineering

In the area of organization’s re-engineering process innovation is the set of activities that achieve substantial business improvements. Companies seeking to benefit from process innovation go through the regime of identifying the processes, the factors for change, developing the vision, understanding the current process, and building a prototype for the new organization. History shows that organizations who define their processes properly will not have problems managing the issues and developing the change factors [9]. When introducing technology, business redesign is necessary. The industrial fields have been using Information Technology to remodel processes, control production, and manage material for generations. However, it is only recently that companies recognized that the fusion of IT and business would go beyond automation to fundamentally reshaping how business processes are undertaken [10].

When foreign companies were allowed to compete in the U.S. market, Ford understood that to succeed in business in a competitive arena it needed to implement strategies that competitors find difficult to imitate [11]. As a result, Ford bought Sweden Volvo to enter the European market, and partially owned Mazda to have a competitive edge with Japanese cars1 [12]. To achieve that it re-engineered its production development activities and global corporate organization and processes for dramatic cost reduction. Furthermore, it understood that expansion requires collaboration and alignment, and thus planned to establish the IT infrastructure through a WAN that connected all the offices. In the process of innovation and re-engineering, Ford has set policies to manage the cost of establishing the network, built models for continuous implementation, and organized global meetings to align all parties with the process. Adding to that, when it came to managing the website, Ford facilitated an awareness campaign for all the branches to understand that Ford is using the web to collaborate and research and adapting information technology as a way to maximize its business value. The goal for Ford was to maintain its leadership in the market and to do that in the most efficient and cost effective method that is there.

Supply chain management

Supply chain management (SCM) is about coordinating between suppliers, manufactures, distributors, retailers, and customers [13]. The basic idea that SCM applications revolve around is providing information to all those who are involved in making decisions about the product or goods to manage delivery from the supplier to the consumer [14]. Studies show that reducing errors in supply chain distribution, increases revenue, enhances productivity, and reduces the order-to-fulfillment period [15].

Ford often compared its supply chain process to that of Dell’s, in an attempt to close the gaps in its own process and reach the level of success Dell has reached. The difference in the distribution model between Dell and Ford lies in the middle link of using retail shops. Since Ford cannot skip retail as a focal distribution point, it worked on establishing a network of retail shops that it owned. Ford made sure shops are not affecting each other in terms of sales, and gave them all a standard look and feel to establish itself in the consumer’s market as a prestigious cars sales retail company. Furthermore, extensive re-engineering initiatives were undertaken to enhance Ford external network by eliminating the correlation with smaller suppliers. In that way, Ford made sure that key suppliers have access to forecasting data from customers’ purchasing trends and production information to enable a faster order-to-delivery cycle. Ford vision was to create a model that allowed flexibility, predicable processes and delivered the product at the right time to the right consumer.

Conclusions

Ford is an example of how traditional organizations can mature to adapt what is current and maximizes the business value. The process that Ford went through necessitated the continuous support from management. In addition, it depended on alignment between those involved as a key for success. The correlation was not restricted to internal staff; it extended to cover competitors to reach mutual benefits, to work with suppliers to maintain similar grounds and adequate infrastructure, and to create training programs to educate all on the vision and organization’s objectives.

Ford technical progress came at a time where the Internet was yet to reach its full potential. The introduction of Fiber-optic cables in the late 90’s and the substantial increase in bandwidth would have helped Ford and cut on the cost in endured connecting its own offices. Furthermore, the ISP services that provided hosting servers were limited to only few players, which explained why Ford preferred to manage its own web server and maintain the overhead of the 24 hours uptime and backup.

From this case study, I understood the level of commitment large firms have to maintaining their position in the market. These companies know the revolving nature of business in the sense of how easy it is to fall back if they did not keep up with the change. The Ford process also shows the need for quick and resourceful thinking when faced with situations that might seem to be unfavorable. The way Ford ventured into the foreign market by acquiring local manufacturers was a strategic decision that did not only enabled Ford to merge with different technologies, but it also saved it the additional cost of establishing production centers in Japan and Europe.

Recommendations

Maintaining leadership in the market requires innovative organizations willing to reengineer to succeed.
IT fusion with the business means restructuring and remodeling to understand the role IT would play to meet the business objectives
Planning and modeling is vital when coordinating work with large teams.
Constructing websites is not about content; it is about understanding what adds value and how humans interact with information.
Knowledge management is a plan that companies need to develop as part of their initial business process modeling
It is not wrong for large firms to try to adapt to successful processes implemented by other firms.

References

Robert D. Austin and Mark Cotteleer,”Ford Motor Co.: Maximizing the Business Value of Web Technologies.” Harvard Business Publishing. July 10, 1997. harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/common/item_detail.jhtml;jsessionid=WDARNHINBSYKSAKRGWCB5VQBKE0YOISW?id=198006 (accessed July 30, 2008).
Computer History Museum, Internet History 80’s. 2006. computerhistory.org/internet_history/internet_history_80s.shtml (accessed July 30, 2008).
Darren Wilksch and Peter Shoubridge, “IP Convergence in Global Telecommunications.” Defense Science & Technology Organization. March 2001. http://www.dsto.defence.gov.au/publications/2400/DSTO-TR-1046.pdf (accessed July 30, 2008).
Computer History Museum, Internet History 80’s.
H. Joseph Wen, “From client/server to intranet.” Information Management & Computer Security (MCB UP Ltd) 6, no. 1 (1998): 15-20.
R. Boutaba, K. El Guemioui, and P. Dini, “An outlook on intranet management.” Communications Magazine (IEEE), October 1997: 92-99.
Joseph M. Firestone, Enterprise Information Portals and Knowledge Management (OXFORD: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2002), 169.
David J. Skyrme, “Knowledge management solutions – the IT contribution.” ACM SIGGROUP Bulletin (ACM) 19, no. 1 (April 1998): 34 – 39, 34.
Thomas H. Davenport, Process Innovation: Reengineering Work Through Information Technology (Watertown,MA: Harvard Business Press, 1993), 28.
Thomas H. Davenport “The New Industrial Engineering: Information Technology and Business Process Redesign.” Sloan Management Review 31, no. 4 (Summer 1990): 11-28, 12
Gary M. Erickson, Robert Jacobson, and Johny K. Johansson, “Competition for market share in the presence of strategic invisible assets: The US automobile market, 1971-1981.” International Journal of Research in Marketing (Elsevier Science) 9, no. 1 (March 1992): 23-37, 23.
Austin and Cotteleer, “Ford Motor ” , 2.
Henk A. Akkermans, et al. “The impact of ERP on supply chain management: Exploratory findings from a European Delphi study.” European Journal of Operational Research 146 (2003): 284-301, 286
Thomas H. Davenport and Jeffrey D. Brooks, “Enterprise systems and the supply chain.” Journal of Enterprise Information Management 17, no. 1 (2004): 8-19, 9.
Kevin B. Hendricks, Vinod R. Singhal, and Jeff K. Stratman. “The impact of enterprise systems on corporate performance:A study of ERP, SCM, and CRM system implementations.” Journal of Operations Management 25, no. 1 (January 2007): 65-82.

Giving a Business Client a Gift Basket From the Company

When searching for the right gift to say thanks to a client consider a variety of options before spending the money in order to accomplish the desired customer result. Sales professionals and business owners who want help finding the right gift for a clients may find the best solution for various situations can be a company gift basket. Many business leaders and sales people give gifts to their customers each year as a token of appreciation and as a subtle reminder to think of their organization the next time the client wants to place a similar order.

The easiest route to take for gift baskets is to get one that someone has already put together. Shopping for a gift basket that is already put together for a on the web is easy and in many department stores during a holiday season. Typical gift baskets that can be purchased include edibles such as candy, cookies, crackers, wine, meat, cheese and so forth. Also flower arrangements can be bought at a local florist or ordered over the internet at anytime. However these gifts are gone after only a few days. They may be appreciated, but will these gifts be remembered months later when the client wants to place a new order? Non-seasonal gift baskets are harder to find unless shopping is done at a specialty shop or gourmet store.

Although food baskets are nice, a client can get too many during the holidays or from competitors during the sales cycle. To insure remembrance, plan a special gift basket and find someone inside or outside the organization to customize it and arrange it in a nice container. If the container is a reusable item for the person receiving the gift basket, then it makes for an even better gift as they continue to use it! Company logo items used in a custom gift basket make an excellent reminder to the client every time it is used. These logo items are often practical gifts that will last for months to come. Often these types of gifts include mugs, calendars, clips, magnets, pens, or notebooks with the company name as the gift-giver imprinted on it along with the website and possibly a phone number. A miniature gift basket can be made by placing several small items in a mug and then wrapping it in cellophane, tying a bow around the top, and adding a gift card or business card. These types of baskets are nice-to-have and do have the desired company reminder aspect. Often customers will appreciate a gift that is both practical and helpful.

For a sales person who is looking for a meaningful appreciation gift to give clients during the sales cycle or when shopping for a holiday season, consider something to go along with the typical company logo item that reminds the client of their willingness to help grow the customer’s business as well as their own. Business books are often appreciated by professionals so they make a great addition to any gift basket. Often a custom gift basket can be built around the message of the book(s) being considered. There are so many business and improvement books to select from. When considering the best business book to give, think about complaints or concerns the recipient has expressed in the past and look for a title on that subject. The client will appreciate that their problem was remembered and that a solution may be provided in the gift. When saying thanks with a book for improving client’s business, the message is conveyed to “remember me because I want to help your business grow.” This additional message of business aid is often received with extra gratitude above what a gift basket alone gets. A salesperson should always include their business card in the book to be used as a bookmark. This way if the book is passed around in the client company, so is the salesperson’s name and contact information.

Many business leaders and sales people give gifts to their clients and customers each year as thanks for business and as a way to build future relationships. Sales professionals and business owners who want help finding the right gift to may find the best solution for various situations can be a company gift basket.

TIP: If looking for book ideas, check out article “Ten Book Options to Use for Business Gifts.”

Career Development = Career Advancement

Career Development: A guide for your future!

Today it’s not uncommon for an individual to change their career choice or to move into another career entirely at least once in their working lifetime, and for many they may change careers three or more times. Career development, therefore, is important to know and understand.

Career development is the path an individual travels and the procedures they follow in choosing a career. A career is work an individual does or plans to do, for a considerable length of time, and something they plan on becoming good at.

The career development process is the examining of your basic skills, how well you handle stress, your abilities and interests in working with others, and schooling or training that you complete to enter the career. Career development is the plan you design to assist you in advancing through your career, to be flexible as needed and to be alert to trends and patterns to help further advancing your career.

Equally important is a careful examination of your current job and career situation. Did you jump into the job because you needed the money? Does the job have a future? Are you progressing in your career? Or are you unhappy, not motivated and burdened by stress or other job related problems? This situation may not be productive for the employee and even less so for the employer.

Now may be the time to do some study about the career field they have an interest in. Self-study, on the job training, traditional or online learning may be involved. In addition, the more you know about a particular career the more focused will be your career development plan.

Studying career development you will learn it isn’t just about education. Training and education will always help move you into the right direction and allow you to fine tune your career development plan.

However, you’ll learn through self-examination what your interests are, what you’re good at, how well you have the basic skills to perform at a high level in whatever career you choose.

Many educational institutions offer career development classes or assessment centers to help direct you into the right career. There is a plethora of free career assessment tests on the internet to help you define your interests and career goals.

From this wealth of information, whether you want to advance in your present career or make a career change, career development planning can be an important strategy to guide you in reaching your career goals.

Emery Express and Consolidated Freight; an end of an era

What many may not realize is that Emery Express was also a CF Company. You see John C. Emery, Sr. founded Emery Air Freight in 1946, when his company became the first air freight forwarder to apply for a common carrier license from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). While Emery envisioned his company working in partnership with scheduled airlines, the airlines considered freight forwarders as competitors and fought his license application until 1948, at which time the CAB granted Emery a license as a common air freight carrier. His plan worked. During that time, the company operated out of a New York office with a fleet of vehicles that consisted of two Ford station wagons. Since those beginnings a half-century ago, Emery has grown into a $2.9-billion global air, ocean, customs brokerage and logistics services company.

By 1956, Emery Air Freight had expanded overseas with its first international office in London and had inaugurated transatlantic service. The company moved to the cutting edge of technology in 1969 with a computerized tracking and tracing system called EMCON, short for Emery Control. John Emery died that same year and his son, John Emery, Jr., assumed leadership of the company. The fuel crisis of the early 1970’s prompted the company to lease its own aircraft and launch the “Emery Air Force” in 1976. Emery now offered closed-loop control of shipments from pickup to delivery, with Emery trucks and aircraft overseeing every step of the transportation process. In a bid for expansion into the small package and letter market, the company acquired Purolator Courier in 1987. The acquisition proved disastrous and Emery struggled until Consolidated Freightways, Inc. purchased the company and merged it with CF Airfreight, CFI Inc.’s existing air cargo company. That was when CF became the parent of Emery. Over the next two years, from 1989 to 1991, the new Emery, now known as Emery Forwarding, struggled financially as did the original company in its last several years of existence. In response, CFI Inc. implemented management restructuring and marketing plans that helped launch Emery to its position as a market share leader in the heavyweight, business-to-business airfreight industry. By early 1992, the new marketing and operations plan had started to turn the company around. Customer confidence increased, as evidenced by the award of several major “primary carrier” contracts from such companies as General Motors. In September of that year, Emery reported its first monthly profit since its acquisition by CFI Inc. Emery completed its financial turnaround in 1993, earning its first annual profit for Emery under any management since 1986. That same year, the company won a 10-year, $1-billion operations contract from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to operate its Express Mail air transportation system. They lost that contract due to non-performance and then Fed Ex picked up that volume. However once back on good financial footing, Emery tried to position itself into a “one-stop” transportation and logistics provider. Thus it was happy to have the support of CF.

The Company introduced its logistics subsidiary in 1992 and strengthened its ocean services and customs brokerage divisions, both of which Emery had owned since 1976. The company also committed more than $75 million for information technology upgrades to meet customer needs beyond the year 2000. Emery’s parent company, Consolidated Freightways, Inc., restructured itself toward the end of 1996 with the spin-off of its national long-haul motor carrier unit. The parent company was renamed CNF Inc. and consisted of Emery, Con-Way Transportation Services and Menlo Logistics. Con Way was the Non-Union part of CF.

In December 2001, Emery was combined with the former Menlo Logistics and Vector SCM. As part of the Menlo Worldwide group of integrated service providers, Emery Forwarding now looks forward to working with our customers in new directions to design an even greater range of supply chain solutions than ever before. Menlo Worldwide is the acknowledged industry leader in global 3PL solutions, and launched the first successful 4PL program. I know this sounds very official however realize that this is the project of the Bell Labs Think Tank and is partly improvised from the theory of Net-Centric Warfare with a slice of Fred smiths, Hub System thoughts, implementing every type of known transportation to deliver the packages and shipments. Emery Forwarding, part of the Menlo Worldwide group of integrated business solution providers, offers international air and ocean forwarding, North American overnight, expedited, second-day and deferred air freight, customs brokerage and project management services. Menlo Worldwide, based in Redwood City, Calif., is a $2.9 billion company with 12,000 employees and global supply chain services in more than 200 countries. Menlo Worldwide was formed in December 2001.

Few realize the connection between Emery and Consolidated Freight, but those who do realize that more was lost when CF filed bankruptcy as there were synergies in the entire logistic chain spanning nearly 7 and a half decades.

Three Keys to Developing a Personal Brand

The internet has sparked a trend called ‘Personal Branding’. Branding identifies and differentiates you, your business, and your products and services so you stand out from the crowd, get noticed – and get hired.

Personal Branding can be the most powerful tool for success in your self-marketing toolkit.It involves identifying your key strengths and expertise, identifying the real needs that you can meet for your ideal clients, and then communicating your message consistently in many different ways.

You can identify, package and market who you are to build a personal brand that leads to business growth, influence, and income.

Here are three key things you need to develop a strong personal brand:

1. A clear, unique strength, talent, or expertise.

Get clear on your personal strengths, talents, values, and core area of expertise. Understand how you connect best with people. Consider what your target audience needs and wants, and then identify the value and the experience that you can deliver to meet those needs and wants. Communicate in ways that reach into the hearts and minds of your target audience and connect with their core values and deepest desires.

2. An ability to clearly articulate that uniqueness.

The personal branding process is about having self-awareness of your strengths and talents, and then letting everyone know about your gifts, talents, and experience. It’s about giving a clear impression of who you are, what you value, what you’re committed to, and how you can be counted upon to act. It’s about having clear, key marketing messages to convey in all of your communications with prospects and clients.

Your branding statement must provide a clear, concise view of your unique set of strengths and tell why you can do it better than anyone else. You need to be able to state clearly and unequivocally why you are different than everyone else, and what services you offer that make you unique and set you ahead of your competition.

3. The persistence to communicate your brand consistently through many channels.

Consistency is one of the keys to building a strong personal brand. Be aware of being consistent in every interaction you have, both in what you say and how you respond.

Your brand is developed over time by all the associations made, the expectations met, the messages communicated, and the services delivered. A great way to deliver a consistent message is through an email newsletter that you send on a regular basis to clients and prospects. You can write articles in your area of expertise so that over time people come to know and trust you. They’ll know what you stand for, how knowledgeable you are, and how you work with clients.

Establishing a Professional Brand is absolutely critical to long term, sustainable business growth. In an overcrowded marketplace, if you’re not standing out, then you’re invisible. Branding your products and services will give you an edge over your competition and enhance your value to your target market.

Personal Branding will differentiate you, your business, and your products and services so that you stand out from the crowd, get noticed – and get hired.

The marketplace is waiting for you to make your mark on it. What are you waiting for?

Personal Branding is all about knowing what you have to offer to your marketplace and what makes you different from everyone else so that you can stand out and be recognized and remembered. It is having a reputation for delivering a product, program, or service that delivers extreme value to your target market.

Fill in your answers to the following to gain clarity on the unique aspects of your Professional Brand:

1. My top three personal strengths:

2. My top three talents:

3. My core area of expertise:

4. What my target audience needs and wants:

5. The value and the experience I can deliver to meet those needs and wants:

6. What I can do better than anyone else:

7. What services I offer that differentiate me and set me ahead of my competition:

Developing a brand identity is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. With some thought and creativity, all the pieces will eventually fit.

Tips For Taking Control in a Meeting

Everyone has been to a meeting that got out of control at some point during the meeting. Regardless of when meeting control was lost, out-of-control meetings rarely accomplish anything relevant and may even result in bad attitudes and low morale among employee or volunteer participants. The primary key to controlling a meeting is for the meeting leader, chair, or facilitator to plan properly. An essential key to a successful participatory meeting is for everyone in the group to feel they have a right to voice their opinions and help bring a meeting back into control when necessary. Below are three tips to for achieving these keys.

Tip #1 – Purpose Statement

Start by planning the meeting, which means having a real purpose for holding the meeting and an action plan for the meeting process. Make sure everyone who attends understands the purpose of the meeting. To do this, send the purpose statement out to everyone when meeting invites go out. Do not invite people to the meeting who can not help you achieve the purpose. Restate the purpose at the beginning of the meeting before introductions. If a purpose was not supplied before the meeting, allow for anyone who does not feel that the purpose affects them or the group they represent to leave if they desire. Having people at the meeting who do not feel ownership in the purpose can result in them not participating in discussions or their wanting to change the meeting agenda to meet their own needs.

Tip #2 – Agenda

Once a purpose is established, it becomes easy to create an action plan. The meeting action plan is called an agenda. Make sure there is an agenda that supports the purpose. Each item on the agenda should be an action that needs to be taken in order to accomplish the meeting purpose. Once the items are listed, organize them in a logical flow. If possible, send the agenda to the participants in the meeting invite or as a reminder prior to the meeting. Review the pre-set agenda after any necessary introductions in the meeting. If an agenda was not pre-planned, take a few minutes at the beginning of the meeting to create an agenda and decide on the flow. Having time limits set on the agenda will aid the meeting in starting and stopping on-time as well. Make sure all participants agree to the proposed agenda at the beginning of the meeting as this can prevent side issues later.

Tip #3 – Issues List

The person in charge of the meeting can keep the meeting moving by using the agenda to check progress and remind the group when it needs to move on. Anyone in the meeting can use the agenda to refocus the group if someone starts to stray off subject or tries to change the order of the process. Simply remind the group that everyone agreed to the current agenda and ask if they still feel that is the route the group needs to take. Unless an emergency issue has come up, the group will typically decide to continue with the original agenda. However, be sure to record any new issues as something the group may want to review at a later time. Having an issues list lets anyone who wanted to discuss something else know they were heard and the need has been noted by the group. So people don’t feel their issues were not thought important, be sure to revisit them at the end of the meeting by reviewing the new issues to see if actions need to be assigned or if an item needs to be placed on a future meeting agenda.

The keys to controlling a meeting is to plan properly, that participants feel they have the right to participate in the meeting, and everyone should expect an action plan for the meeting. Follow these three tips to make sure meetings do not become out-of-control by stating a meeting purpose, creating and using an agenda to control the meeting flow, and keeping an issues list to prevent distraction from purpose and agenda.