OIL From Africa

Summary:    The World Bank announced the inauguration of a new Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline on Thursday and promised to help prevent this project from leading to poverty and corruption as such projects so often have in other poor nations.

In one of its biggest gambles, the World Bank broke precedent and put money into the high-risk $3.7 billion private oil project in an effort to prove that its development experts could reverse history and ensure that the new oil money could work for the benefit of all citizens of Chad and not just the elite.

The pipeline represents the World Bank’s single largest investment in sub-Saharan Africa. By supporting the project, the bank said it had helped ensure that oil companies did not abandon the pipeline, which crisscrosses some of the poorest and least stable countries in the world.

Ali Khadar, the director for Central Africa at the World Bank, said, ”We have put into place components to channel earnings from oil to poverty reduction, for health, education, the rural sector and to protect the environment.”

In an elaborate news conference connecting reporters and experts in Washington, London, Paris and Ndjamena, Chad, World Bank officials said that they would break the curse of oil that has brought misery to nearly every other oil-producing African nation. An oil consortium including Exxon Mobil, ChevronTexaco and Petronas, the state oil company of Malaysia, built the 665-mile pipeline and oil facilities on the Atlantic Coast and will reap more than 60 percent of the estimated $13 billion revenues over 25 years, according to World Bank estimates.

But environment advocates and human rights groups have yet to be convinced. They said the project had failed to protect labor rights and human rights and had needlessly damaged the rain forest that the pipeline traverses through Cameroon on its way to the Atlantic Ocean. Indeed, the government of Chad spent some of its signing bonus from the private oil consortium on military needs before the World Bank interceded and stopped the spending on arms.

Jon Sohn, the international campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said: ”Chad and Cameroon are failing on environmental, social and poverty alleviation grounds. Why is the World Bank using public funds to promote the oil business?”

Chad, which has a poor human rights record and is one of the world’s poorest countries, will receive an estimated $2 billion over the coming years and that is expected to double the average annual income to $550 from $250 in the next three years, according to World Bank officials.

”The whole issue of good governance is essential,” said Rashad Kaldany, the director of oil for the International Finance Corporation, which is part of the World Bank group. ”It was unprecedented that we got involved, but we wanted to see that the government created a revenue-sharing plan that was transparent with sufficient checks and balances — if we didn’t take some risks we’d never get anywhere.”

In this first venture in an oil project, the World Bank lent $92.9 million to the Chad and Cameroon governments and helped arrange another $200 million in other loans.

In return for its help, the bank worked with the Chad government to set up committees including all parts of the Chad government as well as local labor unions, human rights groups and other nongovernmental organizations charged with deciding how the oil revenue is spent and then ensuring that the revenue reached the intended beneficiaries. If the project succeeds, the officials said it may prove a model for other oil-producing countries, especially Iraq.

African oil has taken on strategic importance in the Bush administration as it looks for alternative sources of energy. The Chad project won approval from President Bill Clinton in 1998.

Susan Rice, who was then assistant secretary for African affairs at the State Department, said the administration was won over by the World Bank’s plan to transform oil from becoming an instrument of corruption and exploitation into one to improve human rights and reduce poverty.

By:20700795  Entry 12

How to sell services more profitably

When products become commodities, manufacturing companies may seek to differentiate themselves with value-added services – potentially profitable strategy. Unfortunately, companies often stumble in the effort. Reinartz and Ulaga conducted in-depth studies of 18 leading companies in a broad variety of product markets to learn what distinguished the success from the rest. They discovered four steps to developing a profitable services capabilities.

Recognize that you already have a service company. You can identify and charge simple services – as Merck did as it stopped quietly absorbing shipping costs. Switching services from free to fee clarifies their value for managers as well as for customers.

Industrialize the back office. To prevent delivery costs from eating up service-offering margins, build flexible service platforms, closely monitor process costs, and exploit new technologies that eneble process innovations. The Swedish bearings manufacturer SKF provided off-site access to an online monitoring tool that could warn of potential failure in customers’ machines.

Create a service-savvy sales force. Services require longer sales cycles and, often, decisions from high up in a customer’s hierarchy; what’s more, product salespeople may be inimical to change. Schneider-Electric did a major overhaul of its sales organization and trained its people to switch from cost-plus pricing to value-based pricing.

Focus on customers’ processes and the opportunities they afford for new service offerings. You may need to acquire new capabilities to take advantage of those opportunities; the industrial coatings specialist PPG had to learn how painting robots function after it offered to take over Fiat’s Torino paint shop.

Services can both lock in customers and help acquire new accounts. They should be developed with care and attention.

entry 12. by 20753001

POSCO Goes Into Solar Energy Market!

POSCO has just announced that the company is getting into the solar power generated electricity market.

The first 1-megawatt solar power equipment was installed on the roof of a warehouse at its plant in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province. And the next is planned to be installed in Pohang.

Through the solar panel, the company expects to generate 2,500 megawatt-hours a year, which is enough to provide electricity for 500 households.

The expected revenue from the facilities is 1.6 billion won ($1.6 million), while help reducing greenhouse gases by approximately 1,600 tons a year.

POSCO is the first company in Korea to make use of the roofs of its factories for solar power generation. Last year, it opened a hydropower station at its Gwangyang factory, equipped with two 300-kilowatt generators that use the plant’s daily 170,000 ton water supply to generate about 5,000 megawatt hours of electricity on an annual basis.

With the first stage scheduled for completion in August 2008 and the second in 2010, the plant is expected to produce an annual 100 megawatts of power by 2010.

Entry 12. 20601002.

ABOUT HP

HP is a technology company that operates in more than 170 countries around the world. We explore how technology and services can help people and companies address their problems and challenges, and realize their possibilities, aspirations and dreams. We apply new thinking and ideas to create more simple, valuable and trusted experiences with technology, continuously improving the way our customers live and work.

No other company offers as complete a technology product portfolio as HP. We provide infrastructure and business offerings that span from handheld devices to some of the world’s most powerful supercomputer installations. We offer consumers a wide range of products and services from digital photography to digital entertainment and from computing to home printing. This comprehensive portfolio helps us match the right products, services and solutions to our customers’ specific needs.

HP today announced its latest digital printing products and technologies, which are designed to enable graphic arts customers to build their competitive advantage and successfully pursue profitable growth opportunities.

With the new solutions and the company’s recent acquisitions of NUR Macroprinters Ltd. and MacDermid ColorSpan Inc., HP now offers print service providers the industry’s largest all-digital color graphic arts portfolio.

Customers are already realizing the value provided by new solutions such as HP Indigo digital presses and HP Inkjet High-speed Production Solutions. The new technologies are being demonstrated publicly for the first time in the HP booth in Hall 8A at drupa 2008, the graphic arts industry’s preeminent tradeshow.

 

POSTED BY 20700735

10+ useless interview questions… and what you should ask instead

өжжжүөүөүөээсссөбббөаххрббээгхэхххрррүөүөүөHow many times have you heard colleagues say they had to run to an interview for 10 minutes and they’d be right back? How many times have you heard IT pros say they were too busy to sit in on an interview with a prospective candidate?

Although the temptation to shortcut or avoid such duty is great, don’t miss one of the best opportunities you have to make your job easier. Decisions regarding the hiring of systems and network administrators and their supporting staff shouldn’t be taken lightly. After all, if the candidates you hire aren’t sufficiently trained or properly motivated, it’ll end up meaning more work for you. When interviewing potential new hires, make the most of it. And don’t waste your time or the candidate’s. Ask professional, appropriate questions that will help ensure you hire the most qualified individual.

Note: This information is also available as a PDF download.

#1: What’s your favorite color?

A crazy pearl from way-back-when, many folks believe asking off-topic questions reveals a candidate’s personality and creativity. Don’t waste time with such nonsense. If you want to know about someone’s personality, ask them about their hobbies and how they spend their leisure time.

#2: If you had my job, what would you do differently?

I’ve heard this before myself. It’s ludicrous to expect candidates to understand the intricacies of your position if they haven’t had an opportunity to immerse themselves in your corporate culture, work within your budget constraints, and manage the dynamic relationships of your staff. Instead, ask a candidate which management styles they feel are most effective or ask them to describe the best manager they’ve worked for and which traits made that individual so effective.

#3: What are your greatest weaknesses?

If you haven’t weeded out candidates by this stage of the game, you’re not going to do it with such lame attempts at confession as this. “My weakness? I’m impatient and exacting. I want everything done quickly, efficiently, and without error.” You deserve what you get if you’re relying on such lines of questioning. Instead, inquire as to whether a potential hire has found any self-improvement techniques helpful in furthering their career.

#4: What’s the most negative thing you’ve heard about our company?

Another gem to avoid. If you’re with a smaller firm, you’re going to come across as self-indulgent and arrogant. Honest candidates will think, “What makes you assume anyone’s even heard of your company, much less thought something negative of it?” Instead, ask why a potential hire is interested in working for your firm.

#5: Anything beginning with, “If I speak with your present employer …”

A candidate knows this isn’t going to happen. The liability is much too great. Besides, even if you were sufficiently brazen to place such a call, candidates are well aware that their current employer will only verify employment dates and title. Target their references as the subject of the question instead.

#6: Can you work under pressure?

What are employers thinking when they ask this? What do they expect? A candidate’s not going to say, “Well, actually, I prefer to work at my own pace, unaffected by other department’s needs, crises, or objectives.” If you’re worried about whether a potential hire could work effectively within your hectic, sometimes disorganized organization, say so.

#7: What was the last book you read?

Who cares? So the candidate’s a Stephen King fan. So what? If they tell you they just read One Minute Manager, they’re probably lying and telling you what they think you want to hear. I’ve flown on a lot of planes, spent significant amounts of time in airports, and I’ve never seen people reading “business” texts. It’s always USA Today, sports and fashion magazines, and novels. Unless you’re a publishing house, skip this line of inquiry.

#8: Have you ever been arrested/how’s your health?

They’re both illegal and in violation of federal law, according to Job Interviews For Dummies. Don’t go there.

#9: What was your grade point average?

Have you seen the degrees IT professionals possess? What do you care if your new hire aced anthropology at State? You need somebody who can restore a dead T-1 so your customer service department can get back up and running. Ask questions that will give you an idea of the candidate’s actual proficiencies.

#10: Would you like to sit in my chair one day?

I found this loser in The 101 Toughest Interview Questions … And Answers That Win The Job. Even intellectually challenged candidates understand that you’re asking whether they’re motivated. Why march the combative route where they have to behead you to climb the ladder? Ask them their aspirations straight up and leave the games for grade-schoolers.

Source: www.techrepublic.com

By 20500203 Entry: 11

20600794-Entry-11: MIS series #2:HRM

Human Resource management is no-doubt one of the most important aspects in any corporation. Since Information Technology is so essential, there are many successful and unsuccessful attempts to apply Information Technology into Human Resource management. Human Resource management is both academic and practical business term and its rapidly changing. Let’s analyze HRM in several aspects, how it affects businesses. And most importantly how HRM experiences can be enhanced with Information Technology to boost productivity.

1. Features

Its features include:

• Personnel administration
• Personnel management
• Manpower management
• Industrial management

Traditional way to manage HRM was to separate them into different departments. But the recent trend is to merge all this aspects into one framework. A perfect example is PeopleSoft. Inc (later acquired by Oracle). PeopleSoft’s product suite (also called PeopleSoft) was initially based on the Client-Server architecture. The entire software suite moved to a web-centric design called Pure Internet Architecture (PIA) with the release of PeopleSoft Version 8. The new format allowed all of a company’s business functions to be accessed and run on a web client. Originally, a small number of security and system setup functions still needed to be performed on a fat client machine, however, this is no longer the case. The inherent nature of Internet-based applications allowed for a straightforward transition from a client-server mode. One important feature of PeopleSoft’s PIA is that no code is required on the client – there is no need for additional downloads of plugins, or JVMs such as the Jinitiator required for Oracle Applications.

By applying this system into corporate system, would tremendous amount of capital. To get the big picture let’s take a look at this easy diagram:

As we can see, this system can cover all those factors concerning Human Resource management. Implementation of PeopleSoft’s framework integrated with Oracle database could act as a powerful business tool for any given enterprise system. Even middle and small businesses can benefit from this.

Business practice

Human resources management comprises several processes. Together they are supposed to achieve the above mentioned goal. These processes can be performed in an HR department, but some tasks can also be outsourced or performed by line-managers or other departments.

• Workforce planning
• Recruitment (sometimes separated into attraction and selection)
• Induction and Orientation
• Skills management
• Training and development
• Personnel administration
• Compensation in wage or salary
• Time management
• Travel management (sometimes assigned to accounting rather than HRM)
• Payroll (sometimes assigned to accounting rather than HRM)
• Employee benefits administration
• Personnel cost planning
• Performance appraisal

All these aspects can be integrated into one system.

Ford’s New Design

Kuga the car model of Ford made its commercial debut on TV when Chelsea FC was playing against Manchester United in the final of Champions League in Moscow, Russia.  Only estimated of 15 million people were watching in United Kingdom when the commercial was launched in the half time of the match. The car has it specialty because the company wanted to make difference of how its cars appear while being driven.

Ford Europe CEO John Fleming said that the distinctive kinetic design exterior; Ford’s acclaimed on-road vehicle dynamics and premium-like quality are just some of the highlights Kuga will bring to the fast-growing crossover market segment.

Ford is planning to build 45.000 units in the year of 2008, about 10% of the production capacity of the Saarlouis Plant in Germany where Ford also builds the new Focus and C-Max.

Ford is trying to differentiate from other car makers since the petrol price increased, people are looking for cars that have good design in the same time with the capacity of consuming little fuel. It extended its market in the European Union market; and it is hoping to get mind of Europeans before realizing its competitive advantage.

By 20500203, Entry: 11

WATCH companies

 Summary:

Its time for flying higher than ever for Time sellers. Brands like Rolex, Omega, Tag Hear etc. are selling like hot dogs among rich and people who are entering the wealthy class. What are some of the primary reasons for these escalating sales of these precious watch companies. First of all, the reason for boom in this industry is the increase of wealthier people all over the world. Self-made millionaires in U.S. and Asia countries like China and India are contributing in huge sales for these high brand watches.
Secondly, the people who are already rich are not just satisfied with one Rolex. It has become a fashion among these rich people to have expensive watches from different brands for every different occasion.
Thirdly, among business communities these expensive watches have become a symbol of one’s persona, dignity and self-esteem. It shows that you are among the best, which have made it into the top.

The collection of these high brand watches is compared with wines business. People these days prefer not only having French wine on their taste buds, but they are trying different wines for e.g. Australian, Chilean etc. So, for these rich persons watches have become like an art of collecting and experiencing new brands as they get to know more.

The growth of this industry has lot to do with Intangible assests like, R&D, intellectual product designing, constant improving of skills, as for decades Rolex has been making watches to perfection. So, this history of precious knowledge lures customers to become interested in buying these valubale time pieces.

    For Louis Vuitton, Richmond, and Swiss makers their marketing strategy is to sell a dream. As, people will not buy these expensive watches often so their strategy is just a one time selling so they don’t focus on brand loyalty. Mega stars, Celebraties and sport stars who majority of people think are larges than life are the ones these companies rely for selling their dreams. Many of these stars, such as Tiger woods, Brad pitt are becoming ambassadors for these huge companies. As the demand for technical and close to perfection watches is increasing so are the new watchmakers are arising on to take the market. For e.g. Patek Phillippe sales wnet 15% up for last year.

       Personal Opinion: As, these expensive brands sell their products only in exclusive places they are in total control of the supply and thus maintain the high brand image and profit margin. The article mentions that Swatch and Omega are doing really well in China, but their competitors here are not just other high quality brands rather it is the unknown black market in China, India and Dubai in particular, where many fakes are produced for which you can’t really tell the difference. I myself was wearing one of the copied brand and many friends including my professor mistakenly took it for Rolex.

 

BY: 20700795, Entry 11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sony’s Amazing Speaker.

When it comes to creativity in technology, one of the best firms is Sony. Sony brought us the egg-shaped media player and the dog-like robot. And they have just launched the transparent, tube-shaped speaker. The new invention is called “Sountina”, which is derived from the words “sound” and “fountain”, and is to go on sale next month in Japan for $9,600.

The corporation officials said that the 1-meter speaker transmits high quality, natural sounding audio all around itself by vibrating, and is suitable for hotel lobbies, wedding halls and other large areas. The speaker is slightly thicker than a baseball bat, and for some people it may be in lack of more blast and heavier bass. They also added that the speaker’s exact coverage depends on an area’s interior surfaces, and is for sophisticated consumers, including businesses seeking a speaker that blends into an interior.

Sony has produced many products that show off technology, however, their expectation to sell in big numbers was failed in the examples of Rolly MP3 player and the Aibo dog robot.

Therefore, we can wait and see if the new speaker would bring success to Sony.

Entry 11. 20601002.

The effect of changes in the price

The world has been an expanding global village since the idea of science developed as a result, the world economy has been unified. Many will argue that the most important financial sources in the world is the oil because it is a primary source of power .In these modern times these power has became necessity ,so without it the world came to stand still since people could no longer be active .Further more ,countless amount of economic activities would stop without oil. For this reason, oil is one of the most important sources in the world. Therefore looking into how the oil prices affects the world economy and understanding their association will help to understand the flow of economy. Economic growth is generally acknowledged to be the main driver of oil demand and for this reason much attention in the oil business is focused on the state of the world economy. However, what about the impact of changes in the oil price on economic growth? Could oil price movements have a significant effect on the global economy when the oil industry’s value in 2003 amounted to only 4% of global GDP? Is it not a case of the tail wagging the dog? Prior to the first oil price crisis in 1973 global economic growth seemed divorced from variations in the oil price. Since then, the world has experienced three universal economic

Recessions, defined by economists as years when the global economic growth rate was below2.2%. On each occasion the recession was preceded by sharp rises in the price of oil. During the latest recession in 2001, world growth stood at 1.6% following a year (2000) in which the price of oil had increased by 46%. It therefore seems fair to say that large increases in the oil price do affect world economic growth adversely, but how exactly does this happen? A change in the price of oil affects the demand for oil, which is a component of consumption;

Consumption in turn constitutes the largest slice of GDP. Naturally, the larger the oil price change the bigger the negative effect on oil consumption and the larger the final effect of such a change on GDP. However, the full effect of an oil price change on economic growth does feed through straight away. There is a much smaller impact effect that takes place within year and a much larger full-adjustment effect that manifests itself years later. The CGES estimates that the large 33% global oil price increase of 2000 knocked only 0.2

of a percentage point off world GDP growth within that year. However, the negative effect of that increase on global economic growth after thirteen years is much greater, at 1.2 percentages

Points. In very broad brush terms, average global nominal GDP during the period 2012-16will be $2,238bn lower because of the oil price (and US Dollar and world GDP deflator)changes observed during the years 1999-2003, all other things being equal. What happens to the oil price today does matter for the future too.

ENTRY NO 10

BY 20700796