Regina Spektor Begin to Hope free essay sample

Ah, the gift of music. It was bestowed upon the human race roughly 6,000 years ago because of an effort between the Norse god Thor, Aphrodite the Goddess of Love, and Elton John. Some believe Jesus may have been involved too, but this hypothesis is frowned upon by most musical historians. Through the years, many musicians became popular while others failed. Only a select few are destined to be remembered by mankind. Among those are Mozart, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, and – finally – Regina Spektor, the Undeclared Empress of the Universe. Spektor, the Russian-born singer/songwriter behind the albums â€Å"Begin to Hope† and â€Å"Far,† is a musical genius. Her anti-folk style is both original and revolutionary. She makes quality albums with such shocking consistency that one has to wonder whether she is an angel. Did it hurt when you fell from heaven, Regina? Spektors voice is distinguishable, satisfying, and  ­addictive. She makes perfect use of staccato and legato, and her crescendos and decrescendos are flawless. We will write a custom essay sample on Regina Spektor: Begin to Hope or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page She acknowledges the importance of pronunciation, intonation, and articulation. Each song has a personality, a face, an identity. Her music is never boring. In addition, her lyrics are pure poetry, her songs positively drip with wisdom beyond her years. She alludes to great works of literature and obscure historical figures. Her fictional characters are relatable and human. Her stories are enchanting, and the way she tells them is hypnotizing. Spektor is intelligent and witty, and her songs are insightful to the point of being intimidating. In fact, Im shivering. Spektors music is rapidly gaining popularity in an explosive insurrection of delirious musical fervor. Whether she is singing the introduction for the television series â€Å"Weeds† or the female part in a song by bespectacled alternative-rocker Ben Folds, whether she is rocking out with The Strokes or having her music appear in â€Å"500 Days of Summer† with Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Spektor never goes unnoticed. More important than her genius or her message, more important than her faith in God or the life-changing effect her music has on her fans, Spektor is attractive. Insanely attractive! I think its her eyebrows. My suggestion: join the revolution. Make a run to the nearest music store and buy several copies of each of her CDs. After that, make the unnecessary purchase of all of her songs on iTunes. Share her music with your friends and family. Hum her tunes at school and whistle them in the middle of a church service. The Regina Revolution will never die. So join it. Join it before it joins you.

How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Headline

How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Headline How confident are you in your LinkedIn headline? Have you crafted it with keywords and viewer engagement in mind? Many LinkedIn users have not considered either SEO or marketing strategies in their headlines, mistakenly believing that their LinkedIn headline must be the same as their current job title. I frequently see job titles like â€Å"Project Manager at ABC Company.† In fact, using your current job title with nothing more will do very little to help you get found on LinkedIn. With 120 characters to play with, you can do so much more! LinkedIn headlines with brief titles such as IT Consultant, Sports Executive, or Sales Professional dont distinguish you from every other person with the same job description in a pool of half a billion LinkedIn users. To stand out in your LinkedIn headline, you must use both keywords and an attention-grabbing statement. Otherwise, you wont appear at the top of LinkedIn search results, and you certainly wont capture your readers attention. How to Identify Keywords for a KILLER LinkedIn Headline Not sure how to choose your top keywords? Here are my top 5 tips for building your LinkedIn SEO: 1. Put yourself in the position of the people who are searching for you. Who is searching for you on LinkedIn? Are they potential clients? Recruiters and hiring managers? Future business partners? Think about what and whom they would be looking for on LinkedIn and identify the phrases they would be searching for. These keywords might include job titles, core competencies, geographical regions, technical skills, soft skills, languages and more. Put the top keywords you identify into your headline. 2. Brainstorm. You know your profession better than anyone, so simply brainstorming commonly used words in your field can reap the perfect keywords. 3. Do comparative research. Another great tactic is looking at the profiles of other people with backgrounds or positions similar to yours. What keywords are showing up in their headlines? You might want to â€Å"borrow† them. Do not – I repeat do NOT – copy someone else’s LinkedIn headline (or any part of their profile) verbatim! 4. Wordle it (for job seekers). If you are a job seeker, you can look at job advertisements for your target position and count keywords by hand that are showing up repeatedly. Or, to save some time and energy, use Wordle.net (Java must be installed, and Safari and Internet Explorer work best). Simply put the copy from a few job listings into Wordle.net/create and generate a word map that shows you what words come up most frequently. Use those keywords! Here’s what I got when I put in some financial analyst job descriptions: And here’s one for a CTO: 5. Featured Skills Endorsements LinkedIn has done a lot of work for you in the Skills section. The items that come up in the drop-down menu in that section are keywords most searched for by recruiters. Scan through the skills that autopopulate there to see what keywords LinkedIn suggests for your profession. Once you have identified your top keywords, use them! Before I knew the power of keywords, my LinkedIn headline read: Founder and Senior Editor, The Essay Expert. Note the lack of keywords in that headline. Now it reads: The new headline has a lot more keywords. When I changed my headline, as well as added more keywords to my Current Job Title, Summary, Skills, and other Job Titles, I went from being almost invisible in searches to coming up first in the search rankings on queries for Executive Resume Writer in my geographic area of Madison, WI. Adding keywords will not only help your SEO within LinkedIn, but it will help you on Google too. Heres a sample Google result: Its incontrovertible. You will get value from including keywords in your LinkedIn headline. So if your  LinkedIn headline consists solely of your job title and company name, go change it now! How to Convey Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) Once you’ve identified your keywords, craft a headline for your profile that tells us what makes you unique while including as many of those keywords as possible. Here are some examples: Frank Kanu Management / Business Consultant ââ€"   Speaker ââ€"   Author ââ€"   Leading Fortune 500 and Small Business Executives Teams Dave Stachowiak Host/Founder of Coaching for Leaders, a Top 10 iTunes careers podcast Senior VP, Dale Carnegie of Southern Los Angeles Ole-Kristian Sivertsen Senior Vice President Maritime | Global Eagle (MTN, EMC, GEE) | Market Leader in Mobility, Content Connectivity See the advantage over headlines like Consultant or Senior VP? More explicit headlines give spark and color to your profile as opposed to just listing your job title; and they contain keywords to help you appear at the top of search results. They can also hint at your personality, the results you produce, and some of your soft skills. NOTE: Including proper keywords does not guarantee your profile will appear at the top of searches. There are other factors that go into search rankings- most notably your number of connections and your level of profile completeness. But without keywords, your profile is guaranteed to remain at the bottom of the pile. MOBILE NOTE: When connections search for you on their phones, your entire LinkedIn headline is not visible, so use your most important keywords in the first 50 characters. What if Ive never held the position I want to be found for? If you are seeking a position as VP of Finance, and you have never held that position before, consider creative ways of including the keywords VP and Finance. For example: VP-Level Finance Executive or Available for VP of Finance Position at Growing Company. Of course you need to make sure not to misrepresent yourself, so you might need to say Poised for†¦ or something similar. Note that if you have performed the functions to match a job title, you can put the job title in your headline. I say if youve done the job, you can claim the job title! Should I include a tagline? There is evidence that you will have a higher conversion rate if you include a tagline or unique selling proposition (USP) in addition to straight keywords in your headline. Best strategy: Use keywords to increase the frequency with which you are found in searches; include a tagline or USP to generate interest so people click to read more. In conclusion†¦ More keywords in your LinkedIn headline means you will rank higher in searches- more people will find you. And with an effective tagline, people will be sufficiently intrigued to read more. An increase in page views means more potential business activity or job search activity for you. Keywords are your key to success. This article was adapted from my book, How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Profile And 18 Mistakes to Avoid. For more on how to add your new headline, what pitfalls to avoid, and secret tips for putting more than 120 characters into your headline, get the book today!

2 Discussions manage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

2 Discussions manage - Essay Example There is a direct supervision of employees who work on projects determined by managers – there is little independence and individual performance is recognized and highly rewarded. Examples of how such a system helps to manage employees and their responsibilities include: provision of knowledge and skills, motivating employees to perform better, encouraging hard work, and building trust and loyalty. Workplace diversity is important to company’s culture and performance because it encourages teamwork. Secondly, it brings together different ideas, knowledge and skills that may be used to improve the performance and productivity of the company (Mondy et al, 2005). Thirdly, workplace diversity enables employees to share different beliefs and attitudes and learn to appreciate other people’s opinions and ideas. My coworker motivated me to perform better for the organization when he confessed to me one day that he had been trying to report to work earlier than me because I used to report to work earlier than anyone else. Therefore, the coworker inspired me by recognizing my efforts. From then on we were the first to report to work and we performed better than ever

Cosmopolitan magazine sells sex to its audience Essay

Cosmopolitan magazine sells sex to its audience - Essay Example The rest of the paper analyzes aspects of the issue and the magazine in general, including format, audience, coverage by subjects and content, advertising, ideologies and cultural stories, and the overall worth of the magazine to pop culture (Hearst Communications). II. Format The standard page size of the print magazine is 290 x 210 millimeters, and within this page all of the contents of the magazine are bound, including all articles, photos, advertisements and the cover and back pages (â€Å"Cosmopolitan Specifications†). What differentiates Cosmopolitan from other print magazines is presence of digital and online formats, to complement the print format that is widely distributed physically. The digital versions are identical to the print ones, except that they are made available via the popular digital media distribution formats, namely the iPad, the Kindle, and the Nook. These are on top of the online versions to be had via the web browsers, which include the preview vers ion on which this analysis is largely based (Hearst Communications). The layout of the front page is centered on the model for the month; in this case the picture of Kate Upton is front and center in the front page, with the Cosmopolitan banner in yellow, and the rest of the cover background in pink. Around the cover photo are the headlines of the different stories featured on the magazine issue, surrounding Kate Upton. The emphasis of the articles is on the readers' egoistic and sensual interests. A key feature of every issue, of course, is the pictorial of the model of the month. In this case, the pictorial of Kate Upton for the November issue is already included in the website. The website pictorial is notable for including advertisements for featured products, in this case lingerie. The lingerie worn by Kate Upton has corresponding brands and prices. This way of advertising is a common format for the magazine, more of which shall be discussed in the advertising section of this p aper (Hearst Communications). Among the key defining aspects of Cosmo are the tones that are geared towards women in terms of color, and the use of the word â€Å"sex† in capital letters at least one time in the cover page every issue, in the most prominent part of the magazine cover. Past cover pages confirm this, with at least several article titles bearing the word sex in them. The format is always that of a glossy magazine with the topics inevitably including sex and sex stories purveyed by the magazine all over the world (Zimmerman). III. Audience The audience, it is clear, is made up of women buyers and consumers of the magazine, fans of popular culture, and media in general. The semi-naked photos of Kate Upton likewise invite the males as an alternative audience, even as the primary focus of the articles and the advertisements are women. An analysis reveals that general circulation is about 3 million, with an audience base that extends to 64 countries, corresponding to the 64 international versions that are made available to different audiences by nationality on a monthly basis. The audience extends from teenagers to adult women in different parts of the world, with emphasis on the middle class (Zimmerman). IV. Subjects Covered, Content Summary As discussed in the format, the subjects covered revolve around female grooming and beauty interests, the opposite sex from the point of view of women, and always

Stasiland Essay Essay Example for Free

Stasiland Essay Essay â€Å"This society, it was built on lies†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Why does Funder find it so difficult to uncover the truth? In writing Stasiland, Funder is intent on finding out the truth of the East German regime. She interviews various people that either worked for the Stasi, or had a run in with them, in order to discover the facts about what really happened during the time of the GDR. Uncovering the truth becomes difficult for Funder, as she realizes that the entire operation was built on â€Å"lie after lie after lie. † The Stasi went to extreme lengths to cover up what was really happening to the people in their custody. The story of Miriam Weber includes different examples of the Stasi either lying about their actions or keeping them concealed. After Miriam attempted to climb over the Berlin Wall, she was interrogated and deprived of sleep until she told the interrogator a story about a fake underground escape organisation that told her how to get over the Wall. The Stasi could have then charged her for Deception of the Ministry, but they didn’t, in order to hide the fact that they wouldn’t let Miriam sleep, which was classed as torture. Another possible lie that the Stasi kept was the death of Miriam’s husband, Charlie. Charlie dies in Stasi custody and according to them he had taken his own life, but the Stasi could not tell her how he had hung himself. It was clear that the Stasi even ran the funeral agency, as they insisted that there would be no laying out of the body and that it will have to be cremated, as if to cover up and destroy the evidence of how Charlie really died. The Stasi went to a substantial amount of trouble to hide the truth. Funder finds it extremely difficult to uncover the truth. She hears the numerous stories of different characters, but some these characters don’t really know what the truth is, and others may be too scared to let the truth out. The victims of the Stasi don’t know how extensive the investigations into their own lives were, and the only way for them to find out is to read their own file, which has been destroyed. The people who were members of the Stasi seem to explain to Funder about what really happened behind the closed doors of the GDR, but they don’t reveal any truths that are not already known. They don’t want to expose who they are, or their secrets of how horribly intrusive and malicious they were, because they are scared of their victims getting revenge on them. This becomes clear when Funder goes to interview von-Schnitzler, to find that he has his wife’s maiden name on his door, rather than his own name.

How the Colonization Era affected Authors Essay -- English Literature

How the Colonization Era affected Authors The atmosphere of which a writer adapts to affects his/her works. The writer's environment, and the churnings of history that feed the writer, gives him the material whereby he can construct, and create in. History, in this instance the colonization of the American continent, dictates what and how he is to write. Authors such as John Smith, William Bradford, and St. Jean de Crevecoeur are all examples of this. The atmosphere or society these authors were in directly affected the attitude, tone, genre, etc. of their works. This can be shown both by facts in history and their actual writings of that period. During the 17th century Pilgrims, which were a group of Separatist Puritans, disliked being in England and wanted to go to America for the right to practice their religion freely (and in 1620 they received a patent from Virginia which allowed them to settle in New England aboard the Mayflower). In 1606, King James I granted a charter authorizing overlapping grants of land in Virginia to two separate joint-stock companies, one based in London and the other in Plymouth. Captain John Smith planned to conquer New England's "goodly, strong, and well-proportioned (Indian) people" and establish an English colony there. He then led the Virginia Company of London to successfully establishing the colony. His work The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles told about his colonization process and explorations, as he described America as a utopian society. As mentioned in his work, Smith maintained satisfactory relations with the Indians, as shown by his letter to Queen Anne when he says "That some ten years ago being in Virginia, and taken prisoner by the power of Powhatan their chief King, I received from this great savage exceeding great courtesy, especially from his son Nantaquaus. . . .And his sister Pocahontas, the King's most dear and well-beloved daughter, being but a child of twelve or thirteen years of age, whose compassionate pitiful heart, of my desperate estate, gave me much cause to respect her. . . ." Smith prevented Virginia from disintegrating. This is shown in his piece, as he tries hard to persuade people to come to America as shown by his statement "And surely by reason of those sandy cliffs, and cliffs of rocks . . . . who can but approve this a most excellent place, bo... ...erican slaves were worked very hard (many times they were worked to death). They were treated brutally and unfairly. Slavery was the biggest factor in economic prosperity because they cultivated the cash crops. The independence of the colonies was gained when, after a colonial conflict in reaction to British taxes like the Tea Act, the second continental congress declared independence and wrote the Declaration of Independence. Thus all of these events leading to the colonization of America influenced writing during, and after, that time period. The works of Smith, Bradford, and de Crevecoeur serve as a basis for future writings on the history of colonization. The atmosphere created in these works is reflected by the society during that time. That's why the environment an author is in so greatly affects his/her pieces of literature. For example, Smith might not be able to write many of the things he did in his work in today's time because today's society might oppose or disdain some of his ideas or his stylistic approach to his conclusions. Therefore, the society or setting present at a specific time is indicative of pieces of literature, as in the colonization of America.

Competitive and internal information Essay

Write an essay on the typical main sources of business information generated both internally and externally for public companies. How is such information used to establish a company’s place in the market? Illustrate your answer with examples from one or more business sectors of your choice. INTRODUCTION Information consists of data that have been retrieved, processed, or used for informative purposes, argument or as a basis for forecasting or decision making. Without information, a business cannot survive. A recipe for a good decision is 90 percent information and 10 percent inspiration. Information is the catalyst of management and the ingredient that coalesces the managerial functions of planning, operating controlling. Managers depend on information for making decisions. Any organization is held together by the possession of means for the acquisition, use, retention and transmission of information. The purpose of management system is to develop plans for achieving objectives, to organize for implementing plan and to control performance so that plans and actions occur on schedule. The place of information in performing these three basis processes is shown in the following. MANAGEMENT PROCESS AND INFORMATION NEED 1) Performance against plan 2) Environmental, Competitive and internal information concurring problem and opportunities. Evaluation of 1 and 2 in order to Make a prediction of estimate of Alternative courses of action Alternative source. Prediction of results for alternative Courses of action. Communicate details of plan and Control standards. Performance against PK In the above figure for information needs 1) In the the first step, recognition of problem or an opportunity is prompted by information from the control process concerning a deviation from standard or by search and evaluation of those system (environmental, competitive, Internal) 2) Definition of problem, determination and evaluation of alternative course of action. 3) Once a decision is made, it is necessary to implement and control a solution. Among the above steps, planning information needs of an organization can be classified into three broad types. 1) Environmental 2) Competitive 3) Internal 1) Environmental information It can be classified as (A) Political and Government consideration Some information on political stability is important for forecasting plans. (B) Demographic and Social trends Some information is necessary to forecast the Social Trends and consumer buying behavior for both the long and short run. (C) Economic Trends. Employment, Productivity and numerals other economic indicators provide valuable planning information for the firms whose output is a function of these important variables (D) Technological environment Some information is necessary to forecast the technological changes in their industry and probable effect on the firm. (2) Competitive information. Information concerning factors that affects the operation of the firm within an industry includes data concerning industry and firm demand as well as the data on the competitors. The information can be classified into three types. They are (a) Industry Demand. Information is needed for forecasting the demand for the Sale and the corresponding level of operation of a single firm. (b) Firm Demand The demand for products of an individual firm is a function of the Industry demand and the capabilities and activities of the individual firm relative to the capabilities and action of competing firms. (c) Competition Data on competing firms are very important for forecasting the individual demand and making decisions and plans to achieve the forecast. (3) Internal information They are vital for subsidiary planning at all levels in the organization. Internal data are aimed at an identification of the organization’s strength and weakness.. The types of internal information are (A) Sales forecast: Some information is necessary for forecasting the Sales. (B) The financial plan It is the system that links all activities of the company together. (C) Policies Some information is necessary to frame the basis policies for long run purpose. Data and information come from many sources – both internal (inside the business) and external. This revision note summarizes the main sources: Business data and information comes from multiple sources. The challenge for a business is to capture and use information that is relevant and reliable. The main sources are: INTERNAL INFORMATION Accounting records are a prime source of internal information. They detail the transactions of the business in the past – which may be used as the basis for planning for the future (e. g. preparing a financial budget or forecast). The accounting records are primarily used to record what happens to the financial resources of a business. For example, how cash is obtained and spent; what assets are acquired; what profits or losses are made on the activities of the business. However, accounting records can provide much more than financial information. For example, details of the products manufactured and delivered from a factory can provide useful information about whether quality standards are being met. Data analyzed from customer sales invoices provides a profile of what and to whom products are being sold. A lot of internal information is connected to accounting systems – but is not directly part of them. For example: – Records of the people employed by the business (personal details; what they get paid; skills and experience; training records) – Data on the costs associated with business processes (e. g. costings for contracts entered into by the business) – Data from the production department (e. g. number of machines; capacity; repair record) – Data from activities in direct contact with the customer (e. g. analysis of calls received and missed in a call centre) A lot of internal information is also provided informally. For example, regular meetings of staff and management will result in the communication of relevant information. SAMPLE SOURCES OF INTERNAL INFORMATION: Balance Sheet of ICICI PERIOD ENDING 31-Mar-00 Assets Current Assets Cash And Cash Equivalents 1,479,000 Short Term Investments – Net Receivables 194,000 Inventory – Other Current Assets – Total Current Assets – Long Term Investments 1,185,000 Property Plant and Equipment 48,000 Goodwill – Intangible Assets – Accumulated Amortization – Other Assets 81,000 Deferred Long Term Asset Charges – Total Assets 2,987,000 Liabilities Current Liabilities Accounts Payable – Short/Current Long Term Debt – Other Current Liabilities 2,454,000 Total Current Liabilities – Long Term Debt 57,000 Other Liabilities 215,000 Deferred Long Term Liability Charges – Minority Interest – Negative Goodwill – Total Liabilities 2,726,000 Stockholders’ Equity Misc Stocks Options Warrants – Redeemable Preferred Stock – Preferred Stock – Common Stock 45,000 Retained Earnings 44,000 Treasury Stock – Capital Surplus 171,000 Other Stockholder Equity 1,000 Total Stockholder Equity 261,000 Net Tangible Assets $261,000 Source: Yahoo Finance Stock movement of I-Flex solutions Series Date Prev Close Open Price High Price Low Price Last Price Close Price Total Traded Quantity Turnover in Lacs EQ 03-Mar-2008 1,078. 95 1,037. 00 1,080. 00 1,020. 00 1,029. 90 1,042. 55 17954 190. 31 EQ 04-Mar-2008 1,042. 55 1,020. 00 1,075. 00 1,017. 00 1,047. 65 1,048. 25 36723 382. 44 EQ 05-Mar-2008 1,048. 25 1,070. 00 1,070. 00 1,030. 15 1,045. 00 1,039. 20 22219 231. 63 EQ 07-Mar-2008 1,039. 20 1,021. 00 1,032. 00 983. 00 1,004. 95 1,001. 50 22103 220. 45 EQ 10-Mar-2008 1,001. 50 955. 00 1,040. 00 946. 40 1,005. 00 1,015. 50 19099 192. 55 EQ 11-Mar-2008 1,015. 50 992. 50 1,065. 00 992. 50 1,045. 00 1,054. 65 21805 226. 22 EQ 12-Mar-2008 1,054. 65 1,100. 00 1,100. 00 1,000. 00 1,004. 00 1,007. 45 13398 139. 14 EQ 13-Mar-2008 1,007. 45 987. 05 1,010. 00 952. 00 954. 00 959. 10 15931 155. 65 EQ 14-Mar-2008 959. 10 962. 00 992. 00 920. 00 990. 00 983. 15 21685 210. 01 EQ 17-Mar-2008 983. 15 925. 00 970. 00 925. 00 965. 00 942. 95 12307 116. 99 EQ 18-Mar-2008 942. 95 931. 00 958. 50 925. 10 927. 00 936. 50 21230 200. 13 EQ 19-Mar-2008 936. 50 970. 00 978. 00 922. 00 925. 00 925. 55 21245 199. 40 EQ 24-Mar-2008 925. 55 948. 00 950. 00 895. 00 905. 00 908. 25 21626 197. 55 EQ 25-Mar-2008 908. 25 913. 50 1,008. 00 913. 50 990. 10 992. 55 58576 571. 10 EQ 26-Mar-2008 992. 55 988. 90 1,027. 00 974. 00 974. 00 986. 85 33402 335. 28 EQ 27-Mar-2008 986. 85 975. 00 1,003. 00 935. 00 951. 05 947. 10 118566 1,140. 60 EQ 28-Mar-2008 947. 10 970. 00 994. 00 956. 00 976. 00 984. 40 21658 210. 89 EQ 31-Mar-2008 984. 40 970. 25 985. 00 935. 00 948. 20 941. 10 39622 376. 60 Source: NSEINDIA EXTERNAL INFORMATION As the term implies, this is information that is obtained from outside the business. There are several categories of external information: – Information relating to way a business should undertake its activities E. g. businesses need to keep records so that they can collect taxes on behalf of the government. So a business needs to obtain regular information about the taxation system (e. g. PAYE, VAT, Corporation Tax) and what actions it needs to take. Increasingly this kind of information (and the return forms a business needs to send) is provided in digital format. Similarly, a business needs to be aware of key legal areas (e. g. environmental legislation; health & safety regulation; employment law). There is a whole publishing industry devoted to selling this kind of information to businesses. – Information about the markets in which a business operates This kind of external information is critically important to a business. It is often referred to as â€Å"market† or â€Å"competitive intelligence†. Most of the external information that a business needs can be obtained from marketing research. Marketing research can help a business do one or more of the following: 1. Gain a more detailed understanding of consumers’ needs – marketing research can help firms to discover consumers’ opinions on a huge range of issues, e. g. , views on products’ prices, packaging, recent advertising campaigns 2. Reduce the risk of product/business failure – there is no guarantee that any new idea will be a commercial success, but accurate and up-to-date information on the market can help a business make informed decisions, hopefully leading to products that consumers want in sufficient numbers to achieve commercial success. 3. Forecast future trends – marketing research can not only provide information regarding the current state of the market but it can also be used to anticipate customer needs future customer needs. Firms can then make the necessary adjustments to their product portfolios and levels of output in order to remain successful. The information for marketing research tends to come from three main sources: Internal Company Information – e. g. sales, orders, customer profiles, stocks, customer service reports Marketing intelligence – this is a catch-all term to include all the everyday information about developments in the market that helps a business prepare and adjust its marketing plans. It can be obtained from many sources, including suppliers, customers and distributors. It is also possible to buy intelligence information from outside suppliers (e. g. Mintel, Dun and Bradstreet) who will produce commercial intelligence reports that can be sold profitably to any interested organization. Market Research – existing data from internal sources may not provide sufficient detail. Similarly, published reports from market intelligence organizations cannot always be relied upon to provide the up-to-date, relevant information required. In these circumstances, a business may need to commission specific studies in order to acquire the data required to support their marketing strategy. – http://tutor2u. net/business/ict/intro_information_sources. htm SOURCES OF BUSINESS INFORMATION Details of following types of organizations are required to be maintained by NCTI for guiding entrepreneurs/exporters to approach to the right organization for getting the desired information, assistance and help. †¢ Foreign Embassies/High Commissions/Consulate in India †¢ Indian Missions/Consulate abroad †¢ Chambers of Commerce & Industry †¢ Trade Promotion /Import Promotion Organizations †¢ Export Inspection Agencies †¢ Export Processing Zones in India and Abroad Details of these organizations are readily available with NCTI. – http://archives. nic. in/ncti/ncti8. htm SAMPLE SOURCES OF EXTERNAL INFORMATION: AMR Research Releases ERP Market Report Showing Overall Market Growth of 14% in 2004, Tuesday, June 14, 2005, Kevin Reilly As Market Consolidation Continues, Top 5 ERP Vendors Account for 72% of Revenue Today, AMR Research released its annual report on the state of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) market. The Market Analytix Report: Enterprise Resource Planning, 2004-2009 revealed that ERP market revenues increased 14% in 2004. The report indicates that approximately one-third of the growth in the overall market was due to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. While the ERP market has grown in revenue, consolidation continues to change the industry. In 1999, the top five vendors (J. D. Edwards, Baan, Oracle, PeopleSoft, and SAP) in the ERP market accounted for 59% of the industry’s revenue. AMR Research expects the top five vendors in 2005 (SAP, Oracle, Sage Group, Microsoft, and SSA Global) to account for 72% of ERP vendors’ total revenue. â€Å"The ERP market showed solid organic growth in 2004 as IT spending improved,† says Jim Shepherd, vice president of research at AMR Research. â€Å"The market was also affected by consolidation within the segment, as well as ERP vendors acquiring best-of-breed players to broaden their portfolios. † While many ERP vendors struggled in 2004, SAP AG increased overall revenues by 17% and license revenues by 20% – without any acquisitions. SAP’s ERP market share increased to more than 40%. Oracle nearly doubled the size of its application business through the acquisition of PeopleSoft, but AMR Research expects SAP to finish 2005 with more than twice the revenue and market share of the combined Oracle-PeopleSoft. Report Findings and Analysis The report delivers revenue and growth rates for the top ERP players as well as growth forecasts through 2009. ERP vendors ranked by 2004 ERP license revenue can be seen in the chart below. The top ten ERP vendors by revenue include the following companies: The report revealed several trends that affected the ERP market in 2004, including: The ERP market is entering another major technology transition phase. Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) may have the same disruptive effect that other technologies have had on the market, such as the emergence of client-server systems had in the 1990’s. The pace of acquisitions shows no sign of slowing down. Oracle’s purchase of Retek and vendors like Sage Group, SSA Global, Infor Global Solutions, and Epicor have all been very active in the M&A space and have grown more rapidly than the overall ERP market. The midrange ($50M – $1B in annual revenue) and SMB (less than $50M in annual revenue) markets continue to be a major focus area for many of the ERP vendors. Midrange solutions and channels are critically important for penetrating China, India, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. ERP buyers have moved away from large, upfront purchases. Now most tend to license user seats and functional ERP modules incrementally as they deploy a product. Along with widespread discounting, this has led to smaller average deal sizes. BANK’S REPORT BY FDIC Dollar Amounts in Billions Fourth Quarter 2007 All Insured Institutions Commercial Banks Savings Institutions Credit Card Lenders Mortgage Lenders Number of FDIC-Insured 8,533 7,282 1,251 27 786 Number of FDIC-Supervised 5,197 4,772 425 10 317 Total Assets $ 13,039 11,176 1,863 479 1,334 Total Loans $ 7,906 6,626 1,280 369 944 Domestic Deposits $ 6,912 5,807 1,105 142 737 Net Income (QTR) $ 5. 816 10. 540 -4. 724 3. 027 -3. 230 Percent Profitable (QTR) % 82. 3 83. 2 77. 0 88. 9 79. 1 Average Return on Assets (QTR) % 0. 18 0. 38 -1. 00 2. 61 -0. 94 Average Return on Equity (QTR) % 1. 74 3. 76 -8. 70 11. 96 -10. 51 Net Interest Margin (QTR) % 3. 30 3. 38 2. 86 8. 97 2. 52 Equity to Assets % 10. 37 10. 24 11. 17 21. 26 8. 61 Noncurrent Loan Rate – Total Loans * % 1. 39 1. 30 1. 86 2. 00 1. 87 Real Estate Loans % 1. 71 1. 62 2. 01 1. 81 1. 94 C&I Loans % 0. 66 0. 64 0. 92 2. 21 0. 88 Consumer Loans % 1. 43 1. 48 0. 98 2. 10 0. 96 Coverage Ratio ** % 92. 54 102. 84 55. 35 207. 47 45. 74 Net Charge-Off Rate – All Loans (QTR) % 0. 83 0. 86 0. 68 4. 23 0. 66 Real Estate Loans (QTR) % 0. 44 0. 43 0. 49 2. 61 0. 54 C&I Loans (QTR) % 0. 87 0. 85 1. 24 5. 13 1. 35 Consumer Loans (QTR) % 2. 75 2. 77 2. 54 4. 39 3. 16 Source: http://www. fdic. gov/bank/statistical/stats/2007dec/industry. html REFERENCES ? James O’ Brien, Management Information system, Tata Mcgraw Hill, 2007, Pg. 245-267. ? AMR Research Releases ERP Market Report Showing Overall Market Growth of 14% in 2004, Tuesday, June 14, 2005 Kevin Reilly ? Yahoo Finance ? www. nseindia. com ? http://archives. nic. in/ncti/ncti8. htm ? http://tutor2u. net/business/ict/intro_information_sources. htm http://www. fdic. gov/bank/statistical/stats/2007dec/industry. html