Maselino.Com

Business and Financial Review

HP Innovation for Small and Medium Businesses

As a world leader in thin clients solutions, Hewlett-Packard (HP) continues to innovate. This time HP present HP T200 Zero Client for multiseat. This device offers a computing experience with Windows® for users up to 15 people without the need for additional PCs.

The HP T200 Zero Client presents additional scalability for HP multiseat Solution, making it an appropriate solution is not just for small business or classroom, but also can be used to support the necessary computing systems in a variety of training, online business, manufacturing or other institutions that have many workers who are working in one room.

HP T200 Zero Client allows users in large quantities when connecting with a HP Compaq computer desktop ms6200 Series will be the host via USB or via Ethernet.

Failure of Ideas

Many companies delivered many radical ideas, but almost no idea can be realized. Why this happen?

There are two major steps that have not passed smoothly by these companies. First, top management or the company fails to make that idea into a clear strategy and focus. Second, companies do not have the right leader to execute big ideas. The company does not have a leader who dare to take risks and have a commitment to bring these big ideas.

Failure to make the idea being a strategy can be sourced from several things. The most classic is because companies do not prepare for the ability or competence to execute the strategy. They do not have the technology and systems that can turn ideas into opportunities or because of inadequate human qualities. The technology is usually referred to as “hard competencies” and the human quality called “soft competencies”. Let’s look at a simple example in two different industries: first, industrial food/beverage, and second, the banking industry.

For a food and beverage company, launching a new product is very important to replace old products that have entered the death stage in the product life cycle. Companies that are rarely launched new products will not be able to compete in the long run. Therefore, it is important for companies to develop their Research And Development Department (R&D). Only companies with R&D capabilities are strong, will survive in the long run. In this industry, product quality, including quality-taste and texture has already completed 50% of the marketing division work . Good product is good marketing.

Often times, the marketing department then had a bunch of ideas. They wanted to launch a new generation of vitamins! Want to make a new drink! Want to create some a more crunchy biscuits! Want to create new packaging and so on. Wow! Lots of ideas, but all of this does not realize. Why? Simple, the company has no competence. They do not build a strong R&D. They do not have the necessary technology or do not have the qualified researchers.

This is what often happens in a small and medium-scale food/beverage business. They are not able to see a strategy that became the key to success of the industry. They are not able to build adequate competence. In the end, they just a collector of big ideas.

In the banking industry, one key to success is the ability to build banking delivery channels. Customers want a faster and more convenient service . A bank can have dozens of great ideas to make products or services enjoyable to its customers. For example what if the bank can serve the online account opening, how can the bank cope with customer complaints within two hours, how the bank can transact via SMS banking among banks, and a myriad of other ideas.

It is conceivable, these big ideas will stop when the banks were not able to see the grand strategy as the key to success and building technologies and systems in the delivery channel. There will be no idea which is then able to realized into a new service concept without such competence. Banks are able to capture ideas and make ideas into the strategy when it has the competence or at least have the ability to build competency in the delivery channel. This is the importance of having top management, CEO and CMO both a visionary, able to build a competency to transform great ideas into corporate strategy.

The second thing that ideas can not be executed is the ability to deliver the customer value. The idea in the business world is not just a great idea, crazy idea or ideas that seemed brilliant. You may have a great idea to create a drug tablet that size is only 10% of which is now circulating. The problem, if there are consumers who want? Is this small size will provide customer value or even create new problems for consumers?

An ATM can be given music facilities. So, when customers withdraw cash, he could hear his love songs. At first glance it makes sense. Customers will feel happy because getting additional service. But, do customers really want? Have they not, to the ATM usually do not have much time to wait? Is not the customer who listen to the song then will make an increasingly long queues and make other customers feel dissatisfied? A reasonable idea, but not necessarily to create customer value.

An idea or ideas can not be a major strategy of the company is also because there is no adequate ecosystem, especially the customer base. Not surprisingly, many smaller companies that have a bunch of great ideas are not able to realize their ideas. The inhibitors is simple, that they do not have market to throw the products or services to be created. A large number of loyal customers is a most effective ecosystem to absorb big ideas. Again, this is part of the dimension that the customer is the company’s equity for a very large and often well in excess of the company assets.

With the above explanation, you will easily realize why hundreds of ideas ultimately difficult to realize. They stumble when this great idea will translate into a great strategy. Grand strategy can not be executed because the company does not have the competence, there is no potential to become a customer value or lack of enough market to absorb the products of these great ideas. Not surprisingly, for small companies, realizing the idea is not easy.

For small companies, there are two options. First, they are still thinking big. These companies need to establish partnership relations (networking) with the resources that can help them to realize the great ideas. Strategies such as co-branding or various forms of alliances can be an appropriate model for the realization of a great idea. The second option is to limit the big idea to a relatively specific market. Thus, it would be easier for them to form specific competencies as well.

Role of Leader
The failure or success of an idea to be executed is in the hands of CEOs and directors line. No big idea that is realized when the company does not have a leader who has a “gut” in taking risks. The leader is aware that a great idea must have a greater risk as well. However, they dare to live it. This is the first characteristic of the leader who is able to realize great ideas into reality.

Second, to minimize the big risks, the leader will have very high passion and commitment. They have high resistance to trying to realize this idea. They will continue to give support to the team so that together make the idea happen. Leader will be control many details of the strategy and execution of great ideas.

These are the two characteristics of the leader who is very critical to realize the great ideas in a company. Although it seems simple, it is not easy to find a leader who has this. The majority leader has only one feature, or even not both. Many leaders who choose to seek an execution that has been established or prefer to do things that have been proven to deliver results.

2012 Global Economy Preview

U.S. Economy

The development of economic data in the U.S. shows that the recovery process can continue, amid the global economic downturn affecting the debt crisis in Europe. The combination of strengthening in the labor market, increased consumer optimism and expansion in the manufacturing sector of U.S. economic growth.

  • Manufacturing PMI Index by Dec-11 are at level 53.9, the highest level for 5 months.
  • The unemployment rate per Dec-11 at 8.5%, lower than the per-Nov-11 of 8.7%.
  • Consumer confidence index per-Nov-11 at the level of 64.5, the highest since last 7 months. Improved consumer confidence is expected to encourage domestic spending, and stimulate the economy as a whole.
  • Development of a fairly positive data is at least can be a positive catalyst for the movement of global financial markets, amid the uncertainty of the completion of the debt crisis the European region.
  • There are several factors that could threaten the recovery process in the U.S., among others, fiscal deadlock in the U.S. Congress on the fiscal deficit-cutting plan, further weakening the housing sector, as well as the debt crisis of Europe is increasingly protracted.

China’s economy

Manufacturing and service sectors showed repair, back in the phase of expansion after a contraction the previous month. Implementation of policies that could stimulate the economy became the focus of policy makers in China, as an effort to protect the economy weakened further. In terms of monetary policy, reduction in reserve requirement ratios and interest rates further, the PBOC is expected to be the policy response in 2012.

  • Manufacturing PMI Index by Dec-11 at the level of 50.3, higher than the previous month at level 49. Service sector PMI index rose significantly to a level of 56, from 49.7 the previous level.
  • Annual inflation per-Nov-11 at 4.2%, lower than the previous month of 5.5%.
  • The weakening of export demand from overseas and the implementation of a series of policies to withstand the risk of bubble in the domestic housing sector, have an impact on China’s economic slowdown.
  • Inflationary pressure eased allowing the Central Bank of China (PBOC) shifting the focus of monetary policy, the tight money policy into a pro-growth policies.
  • It is beginning to look to the revelation of Statutory Reserves by 50 bps, to 21% for large-scale commercial banks and 17.5% for small and medium-scale banks. This decrease is the first time since the last three years, after inflationary pressures eased.

Europe Economy

European debt crisis is still going to create volatility in global financial markets in 2012, as leader of the region’s failure to find a concrete solution to the crisis. Policy of fiscal tightening, tightening credit and declining consumer confidence and business burdening economic growth prospects. In 2012, the European economic area is projected to experience a recession with growth of -0.5% yoy.

  • The debt crisis in the European region of protracted worsening impact on investor confidence, which is reflected by rising bond yields in the countries of this region. This resulted in increased borrowing costs for both the state and banks.
  • This condition created a liquidity problem in the European banking system. The banks need liquidity support to meet the funding needs and execute banking activities.
  • The European Central Bank (ECB) to increase its role in efforts to increase liquidity through the purchase of bonds and lending. ECB lending to European banks, with a total value of € 489 billion over 3 years.
  • 3Q11 real GDP grew 1.4% yoy, lower than the previous quarter by 1.7%. Industrial production index grew 1.3% on Oct-11, lower than the previous month by 2.2%. The unemployment rate rose to 10.3%, the highest level since the European region stands. Manufacturing PMI Index is based on surveys by Markit Dec-11 are at level 46.9.

Taken from Jakarta Stock Exchange Review

The Effective And Efficient Ways To Build Links

I visit SEO blog at least once a week to keep up with what’s going on in the link building community. A webmaster wanted to know the best way to go about securing quality links if he only had a limited amount of time to do so. Since this is a good question and many of us had this experience, I thought this is interesting to discuss.

And I made a conclusion about how to make link building in effectively and efficiently:

1. Create marketing collateral which highlights the benefits of being included on the comparison site and send it to each company partner. Include  copy and paste “link to us” code  and encourage linking by offering an incentive to link. If you haven’t already, ask for permission to use their brand name in your advertising to avoid trademark issues down the road.

2. Search if any of the participating companies sends a newsletter to its customers; if yes, offer to provide link embedded content and/or offer to purchase the mailing list for a promotional mailing of your own.

3. Create the unique content distribute to the article directories.

4. Build a list of media and blogger contacts who write about the similar product of you have. Write to each, describe that you have a comparison service and ask if they’d like to become a guest “expert” in their respective category. If they accept, make a press release announcing their involvement, optimize it with keywords and the name of the blogger. Allow them to make reprint the review on their blogs/sites with proper accreditation.

5. Create a Flickr stream using product images. Make a press release when this resource is up and running.

6. Create a Facebook page for the blog, and use rss grafiti to post your update blog on Facebook automatically.

7. Create keyword searches and brand name searches. Also use keywords in your Social Network bio to attract followers.

8. Invest in an analysis tools for maximizing SEO, such as Alexa toolbar.

9. Write content on everything that linked to your business and put it to a resource center on your site. Promote this content center through your media database, social networks and your potential customers. Add some information “link to us” on these pages.

10. Join and get involved with the sites related with your blog/site. Make a quality comments on their sites.

If you’re not having a lot of time but need links, then focus on getting the attention of sites who can build link popularity to your business in short order.

Choosing Investments to Fit Your Needs

Each type of investment has some special characteristics, namely the potential yield obtained, the level of investment risk, the ideal investment time period, easy to liquefy investment, and the amount of capital needed.

In terms of ease to liquefy investment, financial asset is easier to sell than real assets. While the terms of the investment period, investment in real assets and financial assets divided by 3 to suit your needs.

For your long term needs, shares and property is the appropriate type of investment because it provides the potential for high growth in investment return. Bonds are a suitable investment for your medium-term needs because it gives you coupons periodically. Meanwhile, for the short-term investments, products such as savings banks are the most appropriate financial products.

Once you understand the benefits of each type of investment, choose one that best suits your financial needs. In addition, you should consider other criteria that you established to make investments.