tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-126455972024-03-07T04:55:58.903+00:00Business & EconomicsMonthly UpdatedAhsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-83786432379894068872008-06-10T12:47:00.005+00:002008-11-12T01:37:46.669+00:00Business-Level StrategyThe topic I will be informing this month is 'Business-Level Strategy', which are also termed as 'SBU strategies'.What is an SBU?A strategic business unit is a part of an organisation for which there is a distinct external market for goods or services that is different from another SBU.Example: Nestle has a number of SBU's such as confectionery, Ice cream, mineral water and pet food.The focus of Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-58737265140691398352007-08-10T18:18:00.001+00:002008-03-08T12:11:01.453+00:00On HolidaysOn Holidays !Please email me if anyone needs information on any topicAhsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-31635995212087601392007-08-05T13:31:00.000+00:002007-08-05T12:34:37.966+00:00Vertical Integration (Part I)The degree to which a firm owns its upstream suppliers and its downstream buyers is referred to as vertical integration. Because it can have a significant impact on a business unit's position in its industry with respect to cost, differentiation, and other strategic issues, the vertical scope of the firm is an important consideration in corporate strategy. There are 3 different types of verticalAhsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-86293551342019356622007-07-29T15:52:00.000+00:002007-07-29T15:05:10.335+00:00Corporate Culture - Charles Handy"Corporate cultures describe the way the organisation is managed, not the set of values shared by employees." (Charles Handy)Charles Handy popularised a typology of organisations and cultures. Handy also uses four Greek gods to illustrate his basic approaches and the organizational cultures that result. Power 'ZEUS' Culture:There is one source of power and influence. This is most likely toAhsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1120737871856213432007-07-22T16:07:00.000+00:002007-07-22T15:07:44.765+00:00Business Blogging (Part III)Enter the ConversationThe world of business is intertwined with conversations.The industry is talking, your customers are talking, your competitors are talkingYou need to be a part of those conversations. If you don't, your market will pass you by. If you stay silent, people will begin to look at you as uninventive, arrogant, or secretive. I will argue for the importance of these conversations Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1120673359318766742007-07-15T18:06:00.000+00:002007-07-15T22:22:42.048+00:00Business Blogging (Part II)How to start blogging on the right footSo, you know you should have a blog but you don't quite know how to set it up or how to make it an effective communication and SEO tool. Here are some great ideas to get you started:1. Choose your Categories as Logical TagsIf you use a blogging software such as Blogware, your categories are your tags. What is a tag? It's a logical name for a category, post, Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1120673099916390312007-07-08T14:39:00.000+00:002007-07-08T13:39:39.340+00:00Business Blogging (Part I)Why should you have a blog?Why blog? Because it's just about the easiest marketing tool out there.1. One more tool in your toolboxNot only is blogging one more tool you can add into your marketing mix, it also increases your efficiency overall. Think of it as one more way you have to stick out your hand and grab some customers. The more hands, the more customers.As an online tool, I venture to Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1120646318382490762007-07-01T15:34:00.000+00:002007-07-01T14:50:03.513+00:00Business Blogging (Overview)Why should you have a blog?One more tool in your toolbox* Dialogue not monologueGoogle Loves Blogs! SEO/SEMCreating conversations* With your customers* With your competitors* With your partners/investors* With the mediaIndustry InsightReputation capitalCaveat: do not blog only for the sake of marketing & salesHow to get startedChoose your categories – tags, TechnoratiSubscribe to & read other Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-50314968094409014742007-06-23T11:30:00.000+00:002007-06-23T11:49:45.756+00:00GE/McKinsey Matrix Business Unit Strength High Medium Low High Medium Low In consulting engagements with General Electric in the 1970's, McKinsey & Company developed a nine-cell portfolio matrix as a tool for screening GE's large portfolio of strategic business units (SBU). This business screen became known as the GE/McKinsey Matrix.Industry AttractivenessThe vertical Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1150841366206762792006-06-20T21:56:00.000+00:002006-10-21T22:51:42.746+00:00Ansoff MatrixThe Ansoff Product-Growth Matrix is a marketing tool created by Igor Ansoff in order to portray alternative corporate growth strategies, focusing on the firm's present and potential products and markets (customers). By considering ways to grow via existing products and new products, and in existing markets and new markets, there are four possible product-market combinations.Ansoff's matrix Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1150840523321501392006-06-20T21:55:00.000+00:002006-06-20T21:55:23.806+00:00BCG MatrixThe Boston Consultancy Group Matrix is a portfolio planning model developed by Bruce Henderson of the Boston Consulting Group in the early 1970's. It is based on the observation that a company's business units can be classified into four categories based on combinations of market growth and market share relative to the largest competitor, hence the name "growth-share". Market growth serves as a Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1124035743039606742006-01-10T15:22:00.000+00:002006-09-03T09:54:44.150+00:00Porter's Diamond of National Advantage (Part II)The Diamond as a System The effect of one point depends on the others. For example, factor disadvantages will not lead firms to innovate unless there is sufficient rivalry. The diamond also is a self-reinforcing system. For example, a high level of rivalry often leads to the formation of unique specialized factors. Government's RoleThe role of government in the model is to: Encourage Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1124035587518073142006-01-09T15:58:00.000+00:002006-01-08T15:47:29.583+00:00Porter's Diamond of National Advantage (Part I)Classical theories of international trade propose that comparative advantage resides in the factor endowments that a country may be fortunate enough to inherit. Factor endowments include land, natural resources, labor, and the size of the local population.Michael E. Porter argued that a nation can create new advanced factor endowments such as skilled labor, a strong technology and knowledge base,Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1136735444381499812006-01-08T15:50:00.000+00:002006-03-03T22:26:04.910+00:00Porter's 5 Forces ModelAhsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1124731935022829732006-01-08T15:44:00.000+00:002006-01-13T02:13:16.243+00:00WTO : get on with it!Tim Worstall writes:The New York Times carries an editorial on the Doha Round and trade talks. They are, by the standards of that paper, extremely blunt in their phrasing: And guess where negotiations have stalled? The European Union and the United States are busily fighting over how little they can get away with when it comes to liberalizing farm trade. Listening to these two economic Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1124182572238054622006-01-07T16:40:00.000+00:002007-05-23T13:40:29.493+00:00Mergers and AcquisitionsA corporate merger is the combination of the assets and liabilities of two firms to form a single business entity. In everyday language, the term acquisition tends to be used when a larger firm absorbs a smaller firm, and merger tends to be used when the combination is portrayed to be between equals. In a merger of firms that are approximate equals, there often is an exchange of stock in which Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1126447182750312452006-01-04T13:57:00.000+00:002007-01-18T09:01:56.756+00:00The business of knowledge in IndiaBy Swati Lodh KunduBANGALORE - After success in business process outsourcing (BPO), India has begun to taste the fruits of knowledge process outsourcing (KPO). At present, the US alone accounts for 60% of the KPO work outsourced to low-cost locations like India, while UK and Canada account for 20%, the rest coming from Europe.India has favorable government regulations that support R&D (research Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1126446940123657692006-01-02T13:51:00.000+00:002006-10-08T06:44:11.783+00:00Doing business in a cultural minefieldBRISBANE - Despite globalization, cross-cultural differences remain a potential minefield for any company wanting to do business overseas. While in the West the deal is the thing, in the East the onus is on building relationships.Even among countries with cultural ties to Australia, different ways of doing business remain because of contrasting etiquette, manners and communication traditions. Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1124182121477366662006-01-01T08:44:00.000+00:002006-12-26T08:22:03.580+00:00Terminal ValueIn a discounted cash flow valuation, the cash flow is projected for each year into the future for a certain number of years, after which unique annual cash flows cannot be forecasted with reasonable accuracy. At that point, rather than attempting to forecast the varying cash flow for each individual year, one uses a single value representing the discounted value of all subsequent cash flows. ThisAhsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1124744615310765662005-08-23T09:01:00.000+00:002006-01-10T15:29:13.503+00:00Out & About!!!On Holidays!!!The Blog would be up and running again by the 1st January 2006. Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1124183323582785942005-08-23T08:59:00.000+00:002005-08-22T17:33:00.993+00:00Trading CostsThe cost associated with trading securities can have a non-negligible impact on portfolio return. Trading costs include the following: Explicit costs - commissions, fees, and taxes. Market maker spread - difference between the bid and ask prices that the specialist sets for a stock; the specialist keeps the difference as compensation for providing immediacy. For less liquid stocks, the Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1124470033308657602005-08-19T16:43:00.000+00:002005-08-19T16:50:42.103+00:00Your Views?* What effect is technology having on education?* What role would technology play in education in the years to come?Dont hesitate to express your views!Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1124374723137054432005-08-18T15:19:00.000+00:002005-08-18T14:19:35.363+00:00Is Trade Good for Poor Countries?Robert Hunter-Wade writes in the Financial Times: Even the World Bank estimates that removing rich countries’ barriers to developing country exports would generate only very small income gains for the latter... many would actually lose from rich country trade liberalisation in key sectors. The ending of the multi-fibre agreement early this year, for example, has hurt textile exporters across the Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1124373254245134642005-08-18T13:54:00.000+00:002005-08-18T13:54:14.246+00:00Competitiveness PartnershipsGovernments that listen to the private sector are more likely to design credible and workable reforms, while entrepreneurs who understand what their government is trying to achieve with a program of reforms are more likely to accept and support them.Benjamin Herzberg and Andrew Wright offer a practitioner's guide to setting up discussion between entrepreneurs and governments, with the aim of Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12645597.post-1124372367824156212005-08-18T13:34:00.000+00:002005-08-18T13:47:41.470+00:00Joseph Stiglitz on Intellectual PropertyFormerly Chief Economist at the Bank, the Nobel Laureate wrote a short piece on intellectual property in the Daily Times of Pakistan: Without intellectual property protection, incentives to engage in certain types of creative endeavors would be weakened. But there are high costs associated with intellectual property. Ideas are the most important input into research, and if intellectual property Ahsan Kaleemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664182315819299194noreply@blogger.com0