Coping With Narrowed Profit Margins and High Prices

Inevitably, as a business owner you will be forced into tough decisions - all of which are tied to your profit margin. If you want to stay in the black, you need to sell enough product at a price that allows you the profit you need to open the doors the next day. It's imperative, too, to obtain your raw materials or wholesale goods at an affordable cost, yet during a questionable economy that can prove challenging. How can you keep your supply chain stable without losing your sanity, or your business?

Inflation and price adjustments are a simple fact of life. Anybody can see that merely by pulling up to the gas station for the latest bad news. Some products, most often food, are affected indirectly by virtue of transportation and manufacturing costs. If you are a retailer of groceries, apparel, or other items, you will see the difference in bills as they correspond to changes in the economy. Higher gas prices could mean higher costs to you. How do you cope?

There are a few options to consider:

1) Raising prices. Customers may grumble, particularly if you impose a sudden hike that causes sticker shock. If you find this is the most viable choice for you, start with a gradual raise in prices, like gently turning up heat on a stove. If you carry something specific that customers value, that isn't available elsewhere, you may find people are willing to pay extra for the convenience of getting it from you.

2) Change inventory. Take complete stock of what you carry and determine if a particular item costs you more to keep on the shelves than others. Some products that move slowly may not be worth ordering again, and if you feel your customers won't mourn the loss, you may try to save money by cutting away the surplus.

3) Research cheaper product alternatives. Let's say you specialize in coffee and tea, and the costs to ship what you carry narrows your profit margin. You have the option of testing less expensive brands to sell in your store, perhaps to replace products that fall in the middle of your best sellers.

4) Research more efficient links in your supply chain. Part of working a supply chain is negotiation with the other "links," your customers and suppliers. If you have nudged your prices as far as they can go without appearing outrageous, you'll next need to work with suppliers and vendors for a deal. If you find there are obstacles ahead, you may need to find new connections for better wholesale costs, especially if you must import goods.

When your profits are high, your business will thrive. However, it's necessary to watch the health of the economy to determine what changes must take place in order to keep that margin strong. Experiment with price adjustments and products to find that balance.




Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kathryn_Lively

Kathryn Lively - EzineArticles Expert Author

Strategy Formulation for Geographical Diversification

An informed worldview is a vital aspect of the strategy formulation for geographical diversification. The better informed you are about what's going on in the world, the more you can benefit when it comes to developing an effective geographical investment strategy. As investing becomes more popular and competitive, it is more important than ever to know how to build and maintain a long-term strategy to enable you to reach your personal investment goals.

The reality is that successful investing in virtually any environment (globally in particular) requires that the investor be able to envision relationships between economic events. The more you understand the fundamental connections between societies and economics, the better off you will be in creating a geographical diversification strategy for yourself. Often times there are indicators that signal what may come next. Investors should learn how to key into these signs to alter their diversification strategies and protect their prosperity as needed. Understanding different types of indicators will help to identify geographical diversification investment opportunities across the globe-and point you away from unstable markets.

Leading indicators are signs you can use in your diversification strategy before the actual changes to the economy take place. These are considered short-term predictors. Stock market returns are an example. When a country's domestic stock market begins to decline, the economy is usually soon to follow. People withdraw their money and businesses have less invested and in turn have less to spend. Jobs begin to get cut, fewer people have money to spend, and the economy spins into a recession. On the flip side, if the stock market starts to pick up, more people feel safe in investing, capital can be raised for public companies, jobs are created and business begins to grow again. Leading indicators can indicate that a re-balancing or some other action is required with your geographical diversification strategy.

On the other hand, lagging indicators are the signs that show up after the economy has started to change and are a clean signal they you need to evaluate your diversification strategy. Take the unemployment rate for example. When companies begin to lose capital at the start of an economic recession, they begin to cut costs. Often times this means cutting jobs. A decline in jobs will increase the unemployment rate. And with increased unemployment comes less consumer spending, which forces the viscous cycle to repeat. Therefore, it can be said that when the unemployment rate is high, the economy is not as strong.

Different nations will vary in terms of resources and their abilities to connect to the increasingly global economy, which affects your geographical diversification strategy. An informed worldview and economic analysis will help you understand the differences in production capacities and economic institutions in diverse countries and how these affect worldwide economic activity.

Max Smith is a successful Internet entrepreneur, business coach and author, specializing in income production, wealth management and international investment diversification. He is a Qualified Veterinarian and over the years he has successfully invested in stocks and stock options, owned several successful businesses and has been investing in residential and commercial real estate since 1970.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=D_Max_Smith

Expatriate Spotlight on Venezuela

The petroleum sector dominates Venezuela's mixed economy, accounting for approximately 80% of exports. Venezuela is one of the five founding members of the OPEC, which was initiated by Venezuelan politician Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo. Most expatriates in Venezuela are employed in petroleum related sectors.

Expatriates in Venezuela must take appropriate security precautions. Drug traffickers and illegal armed groups are active and there is a risk of kidnapping. The incidence of street crime in Venezuela is high. Armed muggings and 'express kidnappings' are a regular occurrence. Where possible you should avoid traveling on the road to and from Caracas International Airport (Maiquetia) during hours of darkness when there are few vehicles on the road. You should take out comprehensive travel and medical insurance before traveling. The most important thing to remember is to use common sense! Suggested precautions:

* Keep money hidden. A money belt under clothes is a probably best.
* Don't carry large amounts of money. Deposit valuables in a hotel safe.
* Expensive items such as cameras should be carried and used inconspicuously
* Don't leave luggage unattended.
* Don't leave possessions visible in a car, particularly a hire car.
* Avoid walking alone late at night.

Venezuela has public and private healthcare. Public healthcare offers free treatment but charges for prescriptions. Conditions, however, are often different to what expatriates may be used to. Private hospitals offer a higher standard of treatment but require prepayment or a credit card, even for emergencies, and can be very expensive.

Living in Venezuela can be challenging. You are likely to encounter challenges such as:

* stock at the local grocery may sometimes be little to none. You could go on any day and there will be no milk, no butter, certain types of meat, as well as household/kitchen items.
* 'armed' guards at certain locations like malls.
* blackouts occur regularly - about one every 2 days and there is quite strict rationing of electricity in shopping centers, cinemas, casinos, etc as well as on advertising.
* water shortages supplied to your home and having to run water through a tank/pump system can be frustrating.
* large amounts of garbage dumped anywhere.
* little compassion for animals, particularly dogs and cats. You are likely to see many hungry dogs.

Most expats live in apartments because of security. Some prefer furnished homes. If looking for something furnished, it is much easier to find a one or two bed-roomed apartment. Anything bigger is more likely to be unfurnished. Be prepared that it might take 3 months to find a permanent apartment.

Caracas is ranked as an extreme hardship location with a hardship premium of 40%

The overall weighted cost of living difference between New York and Caracas is 42%. The unweighted cost of living difference per basket group is as follows:

Basket Group Cost of Living in Venezuela, Caracas

Alcohol & Tobacco 75.83% - more expensive

Clothing 22.93% - more expensive

Communication -1.08% - cheaper

Education -67.59% - cheaper

Furniture & Appliances 107.59% - more expensive

Groceries 57.50% - more expensive

Healthcare 64.37% - more expensive

Household 45.20% - more expensive

Miscellaneous 10.72% - more expensive

Personal Care 8.23% - more expensive

Recreation & Culture 156.69% - more expensive

Restaurants Meals Out and Hotels 105.09% - more expensive

Transport -1.73% - cheaper

This means, based on all the above factors, that a person would require a salary of 172,095 US Dollar (USD) in Caracas to have the same standard of living as currently enjoyed in New York on a salary of 100,000 US Dollar (USD ). This salary compensates for the overall cost of living difference of 42%, the hardship difference of 30% (Caracas 40% less New York 10%), and the exchange rate.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steven_Coleman

Translation Services - Logistics of International Business

Your company is expanding into international markets. Congratulations! This is a time for celebration. You are preparing to take your business to the next level, but before you throw the company a party there are a lot of logistics to work out. Legal matters galore need to be taken care of and everything from contracts to advertisements will need to be translated into a language that you don't speak or know anything about.

There are several ways to ensure that you obtain accurate translations.

1. Person versus Machine: Your business is too important to leave to the hands of a machine. Yes technology is great and we should use it to our advantage but online translations just can't capture cultural innuendo or even the natural flow of language. For example take the simple sentence, "I am twenty years old" and run it twice through an online translator from English to Spanish and back again. Here's what you end up with.

I am twenty years old.

Tengo veinte años de edad.

I have twenty years of age.

You can still understand the gist of the sentence but a native English speaker will pause to think about the funny phrasing. This distracts from the message you are trying to convey. Some thoughts simply don't translate, a human can adjust with such situations, a computer can't.

2. Native language: A good translator will speak the target language natively. You want someone with a full handle on both the language and culture to take care of you. This can help you avoid potentially expensive mistakes.

3. Writing Skills: Hire someone who can write well in both the source and target languages. Grammar, sentence structure, and paragraph flow all contribute to better communication.

4. Specialization: Hire someone with firsthand knowledge of your business. If you are in the car business, hire a translator that understands cars. Think of it your company as being a third language. Quality translators will speak source language, target language, and business language.

5. Deadlines: Deadlines are important to you and they should be important to your translator. Choose someone who will stick to your time scale.

6. Proofreading: The final stage in any written document is proof reading. The best translators will have a means of proofreading their work. The proofreader should be a second translator who is also native in the target language.

Good language translation is a must in international business, so make sure you check credentials and portfolio's before hiring someone. When hiring you can either hire a free lance translator through an agency or you can hire a translation service. Translation services provide the translator, the proofreader, and are very strict with deadlines. Both options can give you good results, as long as you do your homework and hire the right person or company.

So, going global is probably pretty intimidating, but relax, take one step at a time and get ready to celebrate, all that hard work is paying off and you just might be the next big success.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amber_Weston

Clean Technology Industry in China - Opportunities in Tier 2 Cities

As China bids to become a sustained world presence it's clear that at the top of the agenda lays clean technology. Clean technology investment in the country reached $34 billion US dollars in 2009, that's twice the investment that the United States had made in the same time frame, and far outstrips the spend in the rest of the world.

The rumours from local news sources are that as the next 5 year plan becomes clear, there will be a total investment in clean energy of $738 billion over the next 10 years in clean energy technologies by the Chinese government. Much of this money is expected to be focused on Tier 2 cities.

For those looking to take advantage of these opportunities it's worth making it clear that there's no official definition as to what exactly a "Tier 2" city is (unlike in India where this is defined by government) but it is likely to include most of the provincial capitals and up to another 200 large sized cities throughout the country. Most of these will be in close proximity to state capitals and deal with "overspill" from these more expensive (from a residential standpoint) locations.

Chinese cities tend to specialise around specific economic areas rather than applying an "across the board" approach as more commonly seen in the West. Though there are exceptions to this rule, such as Qingdao (home of Tsing Tao beer, one of China's more famous international exports) which is building a broad base of industries and thus is outperforming other cities (Qingdao and the local province was third fastest growing regional economy in China in 2010).

So given this it's sensible to focus on those cities where clean technology is an emerging industry in its own right, but keep in mind that where one city leads in China many others will follow. Zhongshan is already trying to capitalise on the success of Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Dongguan where there's been substantial progress in clean technologies and in particular LED/OLED production.

Wholly owned foreign enterprises don't usually qualify for Chinese state support so to take advantage of government investment in this area you'll be expected to partner with a local company which can come with a fair share of cultural headaches to overcome. Commonly these include both sets of employees (both local and expat) having stronger loyalties to their own parent company than the venture itself, and of course the "face culture" clashing with a more open Western one.

However with an expected 1 trillion RMB output in 2011 from these industries and clear and obvious massive growth potential those companies that overcome these hurdles will be well placed to join the world leaders of clean technology.




Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Kellingley

Nick Kellingley - EzineArticles Expert Author

Workforce Planning Is Bigger Than H1N1

With the scare of the upcoming H1N1 pandemic taking centre stage, preparations for this oncoming assault is a priority for most organizations. It's only normal. But, at the same time, sit back and think! H1N1 is not going to be your biggest problem... in fact the H1N1 issue is essentially a short term problem. In my view as a professional executive search consultant, your biggest problem will be leadership succession and general workforce planning. After all, CEOs, Executive Directors, and general staff for that matter will be retiring in droves, and, if not, they may be recruited to more lucrative or challenging roles. Still again, some people will simply jump ship!

What's the result? Your organization, be it a business, a professional association or a not-for-profit, will become wholly short staffed, employee knowledge will walk out the door and, try as hard as you might, you may not be able to find solid, highly-skilled replacements. While this doesn't sound much like an H1N1 emergency, believe me, these failings can be equally as important as the current H1N1 scare and will do the same amount and/or more damage to organizations in the long run.

The lack of a succession plan and/or a workforce plan places an organization at substantial risk, in particular as it refers to the replacement of senior executives. Since the invention of the "lean work machine", there aren't many middle management candidates readily available to step into senior leadership shoes. Not only that, younger people don't have the same values as the baby boomers did, instead, they want family time and life work balance.

So, what can be done? The following tips might be of assistance:

Develop a competency/skills map - identify all of the skills/competencies/talents within your organization and then forecast what is required for the future. Identify the gaps, the surpluses and the future requirements. Don't forget to examine the skills and competencies your employees have and use in their personal/private lives versus their workplace.

Create an employee database - create an EXCEL spreadsheet of all employees and their respective skills. Slot two to three employees into potential roles for every one of your assignments. Create some kind of grading system to indicate whether or not the employee is job ready currently and/or if he/she needs further training.

Create Professional Development Plans - professional development can occur in multiple ways including mentoring, coaching, formal training and project-based stretch assignments or on-the-job training. Examine and plan for the best learning approach for each employee and then create a personal development plan.

Recruit to fill the gaps - in many cases you will need to recruit externally to fill gaps as sometimes there is no way in which to train within your organization to meet the needs. In this case you would be wise to utilize the services of an external search professional who can match your skills and cultural needs. One advantage of this is that it saves time and, typically, these individuals are already in touch with key professionals in your industry.

View a Succession Culture as a priority - succession planning isn't just about those top executives; it is the responsibility of every manager in every department. After all, your organization won't be able to function without specialized teams of professionals. And, if this type of team isn't in place, it can quickly derail the success of a business.

While H1N1 might be an urgent priority, the lack of executive and general succession planning is simply a ticking time bomb. I am confident that this is a risk that no company should want to take. The success strategy in this case is to develop an integrated strategic human resource plan that ensures the recruitment of the right talent, at the right time at the right place.

Paul Croteau, managing partner, is known as one of Manitoba's leading executive search professionals. His more than 25 years of experience in the recruitment of senior management and executive leadership professionals are the foundation to his solid reputation for developing a deep understanding of his clients' needs, enabling him to provide exceptional service and successfully meet the complex challenge of matching the right leader to his clients' business needs.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_H._Croteau

Succession Planning: The Summer Vacation Test

What Happens To Companies After The Death Of Their Founder?

There are many examples of family businesses that flourish from generation to generation, while some hugely successful businesses are unable to survive the death of the founder. If both were successful during a founders lifetime, why do some thrive, while others cease to exist.

The success and attraction of certain businesses are tremendously related to the founder, his image, story and reputation. Businesses where that is the case must bring the next generation in "early" in the business cycle, so that there is a seamless transition. Two of the best examples of successfully transitioning a business from one generation to the next, although the founder had a strong image, is P.C. Richards, the New York metro area electronics chain, and SYMS Clothing. In P.C. Richard's case. the emphasis of the advertising has long been on the family, and how the founder passed along his "ethic" from generation to generation. They have always emphasized their reliability and reputation. Sy Syms, founder of SYMS, brought his son and daughter into the business, while he was still running it, and gradually integrated them into their advertising alongside him. Today, Sy Syms is still alive and involved with ads, while his daughter, Marcy is the President of the company and his son is the Vice President. Not only has SYMS been able to maintain itself, last year they purchased the struggling but well-known Filenes Basement chain. Tom Carvel and his gravely voice became almost synonymous with the Carvel Ice Cream brand, and although Tom has long not been involved, and has now passed away, there are often still references to both him, and his promotions.

On the other hand, when Dr. Robert Atkins, the famous low carbohydrate diet advocate and integrative and complementary medicine expert, tragically passed away, and his huge medical practice had to be closed after his demise. His nutritional food company has finally gotten "back on its feet," but for quite a while were unable to thrive because there was no strong identity to take his place and advocate passionately on its behalf.

Loew's Corporation, the giant New York based conglomerate, and New York Stock exchange corporation, was founded by two brothers, Lawrence and Robert Tisch. These men led Loew's with their business acumen, and today their children maintain most of the top positions in the company, and the company has continued successfully. Of course, after Harry and Leona Hemsley had both health and legal difficulties, the value of their once-great empire diminished dramatically.

Family businesses must develop transition plans, and gradually integrate the next generation into the business, as well as continuously give the next generation more and more responsibility, and visibility. The companies that thrive continuously do this, while those that don't often suffer. A great example of a once-great empire that did not adequately plan for its founder's death was the Los Angeles Dodgers sports franchise. When Walter O'Malley died, there was inadequate estate planning in place, and the family was forced to sell the Dodgers to be able to pay substantial estate taxes.

As the adage goes, "Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark."

Richard Brody has over 30 years consultative sales, marketing, training, managerial, and operations experience. He has trained sales and marketing people in numerous industries, given hundreds of seminars, appeared as a company spokesperson on over 200 radio and television programs, and regularly blogs on real estate, politics, economics, management, leadership, negotiations, conferences and conventions, etc. Richard has negotiated, arranged and/ or organized hundreds of conferences and conventions. Richard is a Senior Consultant with RGB Consultation Services, an Ecobroker, a Licensed Buyers Agent (LBA) and Licensed Salesperson in NYS, in real estate.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_Brody

Anatomy of a Cornered Market

For those of you who don't know the cornering of a market is the attempt to acquire a vast amount of a commodity and then control the price of it. Imagine buying all of the gas available in the entire country and sitting back as the world grinds to a halt and then telling people, " if you need gas you will need to come to me and we will find out just how bad you need it". There have been many attempts to corner markets around the world but one of the most infamous was in the late 70's by two very wealthy brothers from Arkansas.

Nelson and William Hunt were two brothers who acquired a billion dollar fortune in the oil business and lost the bulk of it in their attempt to manipulate the price of silver. Throughout the 1970's the two went on a purchasing spree that by the end of the decade totaled an estimated 100 million ounces. At one point they had a profit of between 2 and 4 billion dollars. Prior to this silver had been a pretty sleepy commodity trading at about $6 dollars per ounce. Much like today, the decaying value of the dollar convinced the two that silver would rise in price tenfold. They took their entire fortune and started buying. When they ran out of money they heavily borrowed and continued buying. At one point silver rose to a record $50 per ounce. This is still the all time high, and if you adjust for inflation, $50 in 1980 would be almost $130 today!

They went around the globe preaching their doctrine of silver being a safe haven for the weakening dollar convincing many investors to pile into the market. Among some of their allies were Saudi investors. It wasn't long before their efforts were discovered by the federal government which quickly stepped in and took action to prevent any new buyers from entering the market. They then soon took further action and prevented lenders from making loans to anyone who planned on using the funds for market speculation. The word quickly got out and as the Hunt brothers ability to borrow dried up and the sellers came in droves.

A day that has come to be called Silver Thursday will live in infamy. Thursday March 27th 1980 saw silver fall from almost $50 per ounce to $11. Soon banks swarmed on the Hunt brothers. They all clamored to demand repayment of their loans (this is known as a margin call). The brothers were then charged with market manipulation, fined, dragged in front of congress and forced into bankruptcy. It took over 10 years to completely unwind all of their silver position. This left them billions of dollars poorer. Their attempts shook the entire financial system to its core.

Nelson Hunt went on running his oil exploration business and got active in many conservative political organizations. He is currently a member of the John Birch society and the Western Goals Foundation. He also continued on with his love of horse racing and in 1999 purchased 51 yearlings for over 2 million dollars. At 84 he continues to go to the race track and tries his luck there instead of in the commodity markets. As a result of his actions in the silver market he has a lifetime ban from trading.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christian_Koch

Steps For Designing a Crisis Management Plan

There are six steps for defining a crisis management plan that can be easily remembered using the word "CRISIS." Each letter of the word stands for a critical step that is necessary to be prepared to deal with a crisis. If you want to be fully prepared for an emergency, then go through each of these steps:

* Complete a threat analysis: Before you begin any planning or preparation, the smart thing to do is to do a threat analysis to consider likely crisis situations. This is usually done in a brain storming session by contemplating a list of likely disasters. These could include natural disasters like storms or earthquakes or it could include man-made disasters like terrorist bombs or war. Other crisis situations might result from loss of key data, computer systems, or cyber intrusion. Although crisis planning usually is focused on these extreme situations, it would also be possible to include possible threats from competitors, loss of key accounts, or unwanted publicity due to misconduct by key employees. During the threat analysis phase, it is usually best to consider the widest possible range of crisis situations for your organization, and decide later which are the ones that you want to plan for in the next step - scenario planning.
* Review possible contingencies - scenario planning: Now that you have listed the possible threats and crisis situations that your organization might face, it is appropriate to define which ones are the most likely and perhaps most threatening. Some situations might be obvious. For example, if your building is located near a major river that is known to flood the area periodically, then this is a scenario for which you will want to prepare. Other threats may not be as likely, but if they did occur, would be devastating. For example the treat of a cyber-terrorist attack targeted at your firm might seem remote; however, if it or a similar event occurred that caused the loss of all your important electronic files and computer systems it might be an unrecoverable event unless you had a plan. So, the key to this step is to select the most important contingencies and define the possible scenario in more detail. In other words, if this particular contingency occurred, what would the scenario look like? Defining what the situation would look like will help to define the recovery plans for that scenario.
* Identify critical preparations: After you have done some planning for the most likely or important scenarios, examine the critical preparations that must be put in place. These could be critical infrastructure like prepositions supplies, emergency kits, or back-up electrical generators. It could also be other "hot sites" for computers or data centers that would take over in the event of loss of your primary data centers. It might also include more mundane preparations like emergency calling trees, home addresses and cell phone numbers for critical personnel.
* Select and appoint a crisis management team: After you have planned for scenarios, and identified critical preparations, then you must select and appoint a crisis management team. If you have multiple scenarios, then you might have different people designated for the team depending upon the situation. Most importantly, designate a clear chain of command for the team to take charge during a crisis. They must not only have the responsibility, but also the authority to act and make decisions. If both the lines of responsibility and authority are not clear, then there will be confusion and arguments among the team when the crisis erupts which will cause them to loose focus and valuable time better spent in dealing with the actual crisis itself. If there are critical decision points where the team must get permission from the CEO or other key official, then they must understand their scope of authority to act and how to quickly reach the final authority during the crisis. Defining the key players and how decisions will get made is important to the success of the crisis management plan. Once the team is in place, they need to be trained and have an opportunity to work together as they review the plans.
* Inform & educate everyone: Once the plans and team is defined, then it is important to inform and educate everyone else. Explain important procedures like evacuation drills, emergency exits, and what is expected under the various likely scenarios. In large office complexes, you might designate assembly areas outside the building, and have people on every floor designated to do a final sweep to account for everyone during a building evacuation. Other scenarios might require educating receptionists to understand what to do if they get a bomb threat and what information to listen for when receiving the call. Thus, make sure that everyone in the organization at least understands the basics of what they might be expected to do when a crisis erupts.
* Support practice, debriefing and ongoing planning: Planning is never perfect, but it can be refined through practice. It takes a commitment by senior management to support practice drills and spend the time to review what happened during the practice sessions to refine the plan. One would hope that the plans would never need to be exercised in a real crisis; however, there is no substitute for a well rehearsed plan when a crisis occurs. Most crisis plans should be practiced at least once per year, and the plan should be updated. Key personnel will change, information and phone numbers will need to be confirmed, and key parts of the plan might need to be refreshed. It will be of little use to pull out an out-of-date plan during a crisis only to find out that the information is wrong or that the plan will not work because of changed circumstances.

The key to success in a crisis is having a realistic plan ready to execute. Good prior planning will identify not only the necessary steps, but also the required advance preparation of supplies, people, and training. Use the steps of "CRISIS" format and be ready to deal with the emergencies that your organization might face. You will be glad to have invested the time in advance of the situation.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Leonard_Kloeber

Business Adversity And Disaster Recovery Planning

The best laid schemes of mice and men is a phrase originating from a Robert Burns' poem 'To a Mouse' written in1786. The poem is an apology from the author to the mouse for accidentally upturning the mouses' nest while ploughing a field. And the phrase itself is colloquially used to describe that even the most careful planning can be undone by unexpected circumstances or events.

Most Information Technology professionals today would be familiar with this phrase or a similar variation. Why? Because Information Technology projects can be large and complex making them susceptible to unexpected problems. It has certainly been my experience that most large projects and organizations factor for the 'best laid schemes of mice and men' variable in their change management and risk management practices.

But even the security offered by change management, risk management, backups and redundancy is not enough these days for many organizations that stake their survival on online services or transactions. This is primarily because backups and redundancy are usually designed to cater for a single component failure. For example, if a network link drops then a secondary link takes over. But what happens if multiple components fail at once due to a natural disaster, sabotage, security incident, health related outbreak or core services failure?

The result from such a catastrophic failure can be devastating to a business, especially if there has been no planning on how to restore what took years to build up in just a few short hours or days.

This type of planning is the domain of Disaster Recovery (DR) plans. Even the most stable and well designed networks are not immune to the aforementioned risks and many businesses mitigate this risk through the creation, implementation and testing of disaster recovery planning.

DR plans should cover as many aspects of service restoration as possible. This includes but is not limited to;

· The absence of key personnel
· A communication plan
· A risk assessment
· Technical tools
· Key contact details
· Procedures

Most importantly, DR plans are a living document. That is they are never complete due to the fact that the business environment around them changes and those changes have to be reflected back into the plan in order to keep it up to date and effective.

Is your business prepared for a disaster? Learn more about business continuity and disaster recovery planning here.

DR is not just the domain of large corporations, however. Small business network solutions should also include a disaster recovery plan because disasters don't discriminate.

Andres Villalva B.IT, AssDip(Eng), CCNP, MasterCNE is a co-founder of IT-Pathways.com and writes articles based on over fifteen years of experience in the Information Technology industry.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andres_Villalva

Dealing With Disaster - Keeping Your Business Afloat

Catastrophes happen on a daily basis, and all companies must have a plan in place to stay in business. You might be new, with just a few months under your belt and having invested your life savings to pursue your entrepreneurial dream. Or possibly you are a well-established, extremely successful business owner. Either scenario, and all those in between, could destroy your business in seconds. A fire, earthquake, tornado or other disaster can and does happen.

Are you prepared? The Institute for Business and Home Safety states that when disasters force businesses to shut down, 25% will never reopen. So how do you keep your business afloat if you become a victim of a disaster?

A business continuity plan is essential. The Houston Area Research Center cites these statistics in support of the investment of time and money into creating a plan:

* 35 - 40 percent of businesses disrupted by a disaster without a continuity plan never reopen.
* The 5-year average of U.S. disaster losses is $2.5 billion (pre Katrina).
* Every dollar spent on disaster preparedness saves $7 in recovering disaster related economic losses.

Your ability to reopen quickly is imperative. The sooner you are back in business, the less you'll suffer from lost revenues. Customers will be retained because they are aware you're down time will be minimal. And, extremely important, are your employees. As a business owner, you'll want to get them all back to work so they and their families don't experience a financial hardship.

Top 10 questions to ask yourself:

1. What disasters could we face (natural and man-made)?
2. What operations are critical to open quickly?
3. Do we have a data backup in place to be able to access our records from any location?
4. Who are our key resources (utilities, insurance agent, CPA, etc.)?
5. Who are our key suppliers and do they have a business continuity plan?
6. Do we have a relationship established to ensure we will be one of the first served?
7. Where can we set up a temporary location, and who will direct the process?
8. What supplies, inventory and equipment will be needed immediately?
9. Is our employee call chain up to date, and does each employee know what their role is in our disaster plan?
10. Do we have an inventory of all of our assets so we can complete an insurance claim quickly and thoroughly?

Though this is just the tip of the iceberg in business continuity planning, it is a good start to begin the necessary steps for preparedness. Without a plan, the odds are far greater that you will not re-open if you're forced to close.

It can be a time-consuming process to complete a thorough business continuity plan. Investing in a firm to create it for you will ensure it is finalized quickly and professionally.

Cindy Hartman is President of Hartman Inventory, a woman-owned business that provides business and home inventory services. She and her husband also own Hartman Inventory Systems, a complete turnkey home inventory business package for those who want to establish their own inventory company. She is an owner of Business Continuity Planning Specialists, which was created with the small business owners' needs and budgets in mind. Cindy writes a blog and is also a freelance writer on topics of disaster preparedness and recovery, small business, personal property inventory, product reviews, marketing and networking.

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Creating a Business Continuity Management Policy

A Business Continuity Management (BCM) Policy should define your Organizations strategy in relation to maintaining what is considered the Key Processes of a robust business continuity program.
The BCM Policy will confirm the organizations commitment to define and document all of the procedures and processes that must be implemented, maintained and tested in order to achieve the levels of resilience and recover-ability required by the business.

The BCM Policy should enable your organization to:

* Prevent or reduce the likelihood of unscheduled disruptions to the business functions and critical services by the consideration of prudent levels of protection and redundancy for its business processes; and
* Provide the information, procedures and processes required to achieve the recovery of key business functions to alternate premises within the required timeframes.

The BCM Policy scope should always include coverage for all the business functions and units of your organization.

Key Policy Attributes:
The following policy attributes should be specifically mandated:

* The Business Continuity Management Structure is to manage the program on an ongoing basis. This structure is to include a Sponsor from within Senior Management, a Business Continuity Manager, and a Crisis Management Team that consists of members of the Senior Management.
* Business Impact Analyses (BIA's) are to be conducted on all business units. These analyses will determine the level of continuity planning that is required by each unit, as well as define the period of time after which outages of business process become unacceptable. The BIA will provide the cost / impact justification necessary to support the implementation of the various continuity strategies.
* Potential Areas of Risk are to be Identified as a component of their continuity programs. Potential risk points are to be assessed for either mitigation or acceptance. Acceptance of risk points will occur at the Senior Management level. The mitigation or elimination of potential risk points will be cost justified by the potential impact of the failure of the particular risk point.
* Strategies are to be Developed which reflect the requirements identified in the BIA's. Strategies are to be reviewed on an on-going basis to ensure that they continue to remain effective taking into consideration changing business requirements.
* Continuity Plans are to be developed, documented and maintained to ensure that strategies can be readily actioned. The plans are to enable the resumption of critical business processes at alternate locations within the time periods specified in the BIA process.
* Education and Training is to be provided to all staff on the overall response to a disaster incident. The education should be performed regularly so that all staff are reminded of what will happen and what will be expected of them in a disaster or crisis situation. All new staff should be exposed to the education as part of their induction program
* Ongoing Testing of Continuity Capability will be carried out in order to prove its overall fitness for purpose as defined by the BIA process, as well as to identify errors and issues with existing plans, documentation, and procedures.
* The Recovery and Continuity Capability is to be maintained in a constant state of readiness so as to provide the best possible means of recovering from a catastrophic incident affecting any of business locations.

About the Author:
Jake Whistlle is part of the Customer Services team at Disaster Recovery Services Pty Ltd (DRS). DRS is a certified Business Continuity Services provider. DRS offer a a large variety of tools and contingency management related templates to enable any organization develop and maintain a professional business continuity program.

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Survival Kit for Women and Children

Daily, we read the news about the sufferings of thousands of women and children being beaten, abducted, raped and murdered. While this issue is much more pronounced in recent years the problem has not disappeared yet. Many people think just because they are not those who have suffered or those in their kinship, they are sadly mistaken.

Millions of women and children suffer from one or more of these harmful detrimental evils. There are some ways you can help prevent this, but none is better than the team of both women and children empowered enough to protect themselves from abusers. As a former subject of being a victim, I, have one of my missions in life to assist those who have suffered like the way I did. I want people to be able to protect themselves so they can live to see next day of their life.

Personal safety relief supplies which I prefer for women and children and even men, will have the capability to protect themselves at a level they could never thought possible.

The unavoidable personal safety survival kit for women is the one which should be possessed by every woman. This kit gives much of the necessary materials and instructions to women on how to protect themselves adequately. Some of the wonderful pepper spray, personal alarms, whistles, flashlights and more are included in this survival kit. One of the best features that many other kits do not include is the instructions on how to defend yourself successfully. Remember, knowledge is power!

Among other relief supplies available are those for college and university students, apartment residents, office works and even for home as security kit technologies. Each survival kit is designed for a particular location and scenario and you should get at least one which suits your scenario.

When you obtain one of these relief supplies kits in preparation for security defense, you will become better knowledgeable on defending yourselves. Many of these survival kits are designed especially for women and children. They come with instructions on how best to defend a life of security and many of them come with manuals and DVD. With the ample of information included, it is much easier to be protected when danger approaches.

Women and children are quite vulnerable to attack. They are often smaller and physically weaker than men having no opportunity to defend themselves with dominated strength. With a few pieces of safety equipment and a little instruction, you can change obvious course of this global life lead by women and children. You will not be another victim of this epidemic of violence against women and children.

Take your time and money and put it towards something that can do well by saving your life. The UN Supplier is the best in the globe to take care of your protection. Take a set of personal safety for your child and woman making yourself and your family a favorable support forever. Protect yourself and your family against violence today by contacting "UN Supplier" for survival kit and equipments

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=George_W_Thomas

Climate-Controlled Goods and Business Continuity

If you're responsible for storing or moving products which need to be stored at a specific temperature, you will need to have some kind of business continuity plan to avoid, in the event of anything going wrong, losing business and devaluing your reputation.

It's worth thinking about the recent events which caused many businesses serious problems.

Consider, for example, the recent problems caused in Europe by the volcanic ash cloud. Planes could not fly at all for a significant period and even following this passengers experienced delays for many weeks afterwards.

The impact was huge. Business that move refrigeration containers and goods which need to be stored at a certain temperature must have alternate back-up plans in place.

The types of items this would affect include vaccines. These pharmaceuticals will deteriorate rapidly and can be rendered useless if they are not stored at the correct temperature. This has health implications and can lead to the wastage of significant amounts of money.

It's true that transporting by air is the fastest way of moving goods which require refrigeration. However, as the situation outlined above shows, this isn't always possible. A continuity plan must be in place which incorporates an alternative mode of transport.

Refrigerated storage units are available which are specifically designed to carry pharmaceutical products such as vaccines and other high-value, critical items which need to be kept at a strictly regulated temperature. These units are built from modified refrigerated containers and can easily be transported anywhere globally.

It is also important to temperature monitor. You can do this remotely using the latest sophisticated technology. All you need to do is log in remotely and check that the temperature has remained constant.

A belt and braces approach is advisable. For extra reassurance a contingency plan is essential, especially when it comes to high-value goods such as vaccines and other drugs. Most companies use two distinct cold storage systems, so should one go down, the other will be activated. This means cooling will stay constant.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sarah_Cornish

What Is the Difference Between RTO and RPO?

I often get asked the question "What is the difference between RTO and RPO?"

The answerer is not as mysterious as if would first appear. But let's step back a little and understand what the terms RTO and RPO actually mean first.

RTO, or Recovery Time Objective, is essentially the maximum amount of time a business can afford for a system or application to be unavailable.

In the early days of Disaster Recovery, before Business Continuity was really considered in much detail (see my article on Disaster Recovery or Business Continuity) RTO was largely dictated by budget. Basically you decided which computer system, or systems you wanted to be covered by a "Disaster Recovery" service and subscribed to usually what was described as a "Warm Recovery" (again, see my article on Disaster Recovery or Business Continuity).

When the service was required (or invoked) following a disruption the computer systems(s) would be made available for use, typically within four hours. You then had to add the time to get to the site where the computer system(s) were located (or wait if they were being delivered to a site of your choice) and restore via a backup of some sort, usually tape; assuming they had not been lost in the disaster (not as uncommon as you might think!). This would usually be followed by user acceptance testing (UAT), and finally handed over as a live system.

If all went well, which usually depended on how well the recovery plan had been tested, the required system(s) would be available within 24 hours of the incident (or T+24). This would be defined as having a RTO of 24 hours for the chosen system(s) and applications(s).

Obviously systems and applications not covered by the Disaster Recovery contract could have a significantly longer RTO; this is where a sound Threat Assessment and Business Impact Analysis (along with budget) would assist in determining which systems and applications would be covered (please see my other articles for details on Threat Assessment and Business Impact Analysis for more information).

RTOs can range from zero to weeks (or even months) depending on the criticality and budget of the business concerned. It is quite acceptable to have different RTOs for individual systems or applications depending on criticality and risk appetite. I will be covering risk appetite in more detail in my BS 25999 articles.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_E_Moore

Step One in Business Continuity: Protect Workplace Email

What happens in your business when you cannot get your email?

When some part of your network fails such as a server or your broadband connection, the first and perhaps most significant impact to any business is normally your email. A few minutes without email may be manageable but what about a few hours or a few days?

Email has become undeniably an integral part of most businesses, representing a critical form of business communication. However so many people continue to leave themselves vulnerable to expensive downtime and server failures. By not implementing a back-up alternative for your email you are accepting that it is fine for your business business to be totally cut off from receiving and sending email... which means ignoring potential customers, suppliers, fellow staff, current clients and so on which isn't always the best way to present your business communication skills to the world.

Staff can't work because their emails down? No more excuses

It is perfectly legit for staff to claim that their ability to work is severely limited and in some cases completely halted because they cannot access their email accounts. This is often the case as offices around the world, whether in huge corporations or small businesses rely increasingly on electronic communications, namely email. People save important information and reminders within their email and often the only place that they have a particular contacts email address saved is on the 'from' line of the last email they received from them.

So in order to turn such justifiable reasons for not working during downtime into cop out excuses that will not be accepted, it is imperative that smart business owners have a solution in place to ensure that staff will always receive their email regardless of server failures and planned or unplanned downtime. By protecting your staffs email you can simultaneously protect your office's productivity and your organisation's reputation as dependable, professional and contactable, in the eyes of partners, potential clients and the outside world in general.

Downtime cannot be perfectly calculated and yes it costs money!

Making work email always available and fully functional is a smart and some would say essential move in organisations of all sizes. Like most things in life we take the availability of our email for granted. It's just expected to be there and working but unfortunately it's far from being that reliable.

According to Dunn & Bradstreet, 59% of Fortune 500 companies experience a minimum of 1.6 hours of downtime per week.

The problem is that many business owners wrongly assume that they may have some level of control over such downtime, that it will resonate from internal technologies and so their IT manager or outsourced providers will either know when it's going off or be able to fix it immediately if it's unplanned. Unfortunately ITs a little more fickle than that and downtime rarely keeps to a schedule, plus short of your IT department being manned by superheroes I think it's fair to say that extended periods of downtime cannot be avoided at times. Then think of the costs...

You have to be realistic and think of the extended scenarios that have the potential to take your business down. The threats to your business could include both naturalevents as well as man-made events, what the IT Director notes as "weather and wires."

So if you were to lose your email for the rest of toady... what would that mean for you?

The answer's pretty grim isn't it? Ok it might not force the company to close but just think of how much your workload would steadily increase by with every hour that passes. Or the cost of missing out on that deal you've worked hard for because you didn't get the email requesting pricing or additional info. Plus one can only imagine the reputation that can be ruined by failing to turn up to that big meeting that you missed because the details where inside and email...

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Danielle_C

Parts of a Business Plan - Six Essentials

In any type of commercial endeavor, a business plan is as indispensable as air is to people. Without one, a business will often not be able to succeed, and will constantly be wasting its resources grappling to survive in the marketplace. As crucial as the plan is to a business, there are certain parts that are crucial to a business plan.

Some plans may have more, but here are 6 parts of a business plan that are essential to include:

· Executive Summary - Some parts of a business plan may have different names or titles for the other elements of their business plans, but the executive summary is the one constant section among them. In this part, you will need to capture the interest of your reader with your presentation of the synopsis of your business. Present the key highlights of your plan and its objectives and forecasts concisely. This should prod the reader to do further reading.

· Business Information - Here you will present the information about the business. You will include the type of business it is, persons involved and their involvement details, date of creation, the registered business name, its base of operation, location, products or services to be offered, and all other facts pertaining to the business.

· Market Analysis and Marketing Strategy - Discuss the target market of your business and your strategy on how to penetrate that market. You should include detailed information on the different sectors of the target consumers and what are your percentage goals of market share. Include relevant data and information that clearly demonstrates the viability of the business.

· Products and Services Plan - This part should cover the description of the services and products to be offered, how it would be produced, the implementation and delivery methods, and possibilities of future development.

· Management and Human Resource - Describe the management and personnel structure, their responsibilities and importance. Include their background, qualifications and experience, compensation and benefits. Additionally list any investors or shareholders and their investments or shares.

· Financial Plans - This is very crucial section. Present a financial plan that will project a financial aspect summary for the next five to ten years. You will include the necessary capital, its uses, expected income or losses, cash flows, and other financial details. This should include a clear description of all your existing financial resources and what, if any, additional resources the start up will require.

Different business structures may demand additional sections but these six parts of a business plan are virtually always included.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rich_Riley

How to Write Up a Business Plan

The fact that you're trying to learn more about how to write up a business plan shows that you are dead serious about succeeding. You know how important a business plan is in acting as your guide as you go through the different stages in the development of your business. It is also your opportunity to seek the financial resources that may be necessary to start your business.

Here are 5 tips to help show you how to write up a business plan:

· Set achievable verifiable goals. One of the major purposes of creating a business plan is to clearly state your goals in black and white. This will not only aid in guiding the operation of your business, but it also explains your aims to anyone reading your plan. Identify the long term objective of your business, but setting intermediate goals that can be verifiably attained will help demonstrate to any possible investor that you have a clearly defined direction to take your business.

· Be realistic in every aspect. From your timeline, to market analysis, up to and including projected expenses and revenues, you need to create an accurate forecasting. Don't be tempted to exaggerate your figures and your projections. This might look good in the short term, but if the numbers prove to be inaccurate you will lose credibility.

· Keep it simple. Make your plan very clear and easy to understand. If you inflate the language trying to impress, it may just be too confusing even for you. It should flow naturally without any excess verbiage. By keeping it businesslike and concise you set proper tone for the business and a reader will react positively to that tone.

· Use a time tested business plan template. Don't stray too far from the tried and true formats of creating a business plan. You may see the need to set yourself apart, but to make yourself look more professional, it's far better to stay along the lines of a traditional business plan format. Following a template will help guide you through the process, and it will organize your plan into a well structured document.

· Clearly state the purpose of the business plan. Just like you identified the goals of the business, you should identify the goal of the business plan. It may be strictly a guide for your business to follow, or it may be securing financial backing from an investor. Often times it is both of these.

Follow these five tips as you go through the process of learning how to write up a business plan, and your business will be off to a solid start.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rich_Riley