Know The Basics Of International Business Gift Giving

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Businessmen would agree that in the business world, giving gifts once in a while can never be avoided. Be it Christmas or an important client’s birthday, gift-giving is one of the most effective ways of establishing stronger ties to those who matter to you and your business. This may not be totally true but even as this, it is the most common perception. You might not believe this but there are times when giving gifts can be the worst thing that you can do. This is especially true when you are invovled in an international business. This is because each race or nationality has its own belief about business gift giving.

It’s interesting that while some countries may be very open to gift-giving, others can actually take the act to be completely unacceptable. For example, in the Czech Republic, Columbia, Indonesia and some others, giving gifts is a warm gesture between corporate people. This can be misunderstood as bribing when youre on other countries like Australia, Denmark or Uruguay.

It’s interesting that while some countries may be very open to gift-giving, others can actually take the act to be completely unacceptable. For example, in the Czech Republic, Columbia, Indonesia and some others, giving gifts is a warm gesture between corporate people. However, there are other countries like Australia and many others that find this act offensive because they think that this is like a bribe.

Therefore, it is important that you try to find out about different countries and their beliefs when it comes to this kinds of things especially when you are involved in international business. Generally, we feel that when we give a gift to a client or a colleague during his birthday, it can strengthen our business relationship. The effect can be otherwise. It can still make negative vibes that may be considered to affect the business relationship. It is significant to always know the background of the people you consider giving presents for this reason.

The issues around gift giving may not even be purely cultural but religious as well. It will be a good idea to research on peoples cultures you are planning to give presents even when working for a company. For example, you might think of giving your boss a little token on his birthday. Perhaps you cannot give him anything made of cowhide as in India, cows are considered sacred if this person is Indian.

There will be rituals or rules that have to be pursued as giving gifts is not really discouraged in some cases. The Chinese, for instance, consider red a lucky color. The monetary value of a gift may also affect its meaning in almost all cases. Whatever thing that is costly can make the receiver feel uncomfortable or even embarrassed. In other cases, a gift should fit the level of relationship that the giver has with the receiver.

There are more differences among nationalities in terms of their gift-giving customs and it is important to consider these before you give anything, no matter how well-meant.

Century Business Methods Used Today Are The Problem, Not The Solution

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Throughout the 20th century, various business methods for operating and developing the company have been contrived and refined, becoming the conventional business methods that we use today. We improve management and effect business change by laying new contrived business methods and structures over the methods in place. Even with all the improvements, we continue to have fundamental problems with re-organizations, intangible assets, accounting limitations, cost control, information management, alignment, etc. Even with all the business organization and management methods, we still have not found the one right method to organize and manage the company business.
Until now. Result-performance Management, newly launched in 2008, provides the one right method to organize and manage the business in the 21st century company, and leave problems with 20th century business methods behind.

Conventional business methods are the generally-accepted wrong ways

Over the past decade, we implemented breakthroughs like business process re-engineering, business transformation methods, business performance management, and enterprise resource planning. But, these turned out to be just new names for conventional business methods to do the same old things.

Why are there so many different business methods to do the same thing? Why isn’t there just one right business method? It is simply because all of these different business methods are wrong methods, and we do not know the one right business method. Since all the different business methods we use are wrong, we can only define the right method by identifying the wrong methods that are generally-accepted. The basis for our management and accounting methods is not that they are the fundamentally-sound and understood right business methods, but that they are the generally-accepted wrong business methods. When we come up with the one right business method, it will be known and accepted, and all of the wrong business methods will be obsolete.

Conventional thinking prevents the new breakthrough needed

Since the beginning of business, no one has ever stopped to think, “Are the business methods that have always been used the best business methods”. We accept existing business methods as the basis and try to improve the methods.

New business methods contrive ways to alleviate the symptoms of fundamental problems inherent in the way things have always been done. This we can do ad infinitum without ever solving the problems. How many methods do we have and how many books have been written about corporate governance, business organization, change management, investment management, capital development, performance management, cost and value accounting and management, solution alignment, intangible assets, business collaboration, etc. Why do we keep coming up with new business methods, if previous business methods were supposed to have solved the problem?

Management improvement books are written using the existing body of knowledge or published record as the valid basis. Many of the books cut, reorganize, and paste what has already been written. Other books describe innovative ways enterprises are coping with contrived business methods. These approaches prevent new breakthroughs and can, at best, produce some incremental improvement.

Conventional 20th century business methods do not organize and manage the business

The problem is that conventional business organization and management methods do not organize and manage the business. Instead we contrived business methods to organize and manage people, departments, functions, activities, duties, positions, tasks, and numerous other entities. Each business method defines these entities in its own way. Each method is laid over the business obscuring the actual business and compounding the problems of business change. The many different business methods describe the company with different entities and definitions creating information complexity and proliferation of information systems.

The organization structure is laid over the business. The business changes, while the organization structure remains rigid, building pressure for reorganization and upheaval. Other business methods and structures are laid over the organization structure. The actual business lies hidden under a proliferation of methods.

We need one right way to organize and manage the business

We need to step back and take a completely new look at the basics of our company business and build the one right method to organize and manage the business. Conventional business organization and management methods manage contrived entities, but fail to specifically define the business and manage specific business entities.

The business definition is investments in capital as solutions of worth utilized for costs and effectiveness of performance to produce value and quality in results. Conventional business management methods do not identify and manage the three entities that define the business and must be managed:

1. Results: Specific economic outputs of value and quality produced at any level from business performance
2. Capital: Specific invested capital available as solutions to be utilized in business performance
3. Performance: Utilization of a specific solutions of worth to incur costs to produce specific results

These three entities are used in Result-performance Management (R-pM) to organize the company. Any other entities used must be defined in terms of results produced, capital investments as solutions, and performance in solutions utilized to produce results.
The business organization changes naturally as results are added, changed, or deactivated. The business organization changes with each new capital investment to implement solutions or to discontinue old solutions. Human capital personnel and capabilities are deployed as solutions where they have the capability to manage and produce results. Other capital is deployed as well as specific solutions to be utilized in performance to produce a result. The business organization changes with each redeployment of a solution to be utilized in performance to produce a result.

R-pM is the new breakthrough needed to organize the business

R-pM is a new breakthrough that defines the results that enterprise management wants to produce and adds and deletes results as needed. R-pM defines the capital utilized as solutions in performance, to show how costs are incurred. R-pM deploys solutions to be utilized in performance to the results to be produced to show total performance costs against the result value created.
Once the organization is simplified, R-pM manages the enterprise in three dimensions for ongoing advantage

1. Result: Manage economic output to reach revenue goals
2. Performance: Manage invested capital in performance to reach profit-margin goals
3. Management: Manage operation and development goals by time period for return and strategic value

R-pM develops new capital solutions over time to create value in new results. R-pM governs the company business performance over time to create strategic value.

R-pM is one simple integrated business method for 21st century management

R-pM removes conventional business complexity and provides one simple integrated business method that eliminates re-organizations, intangible assets, misalignments, ad-hoc development, change management, and unknown costs. R-pM enables strategic value creation, result value-quality chains, transparent governance, innovation technology management, beneficial development, cost and value accounting, result-performance optimization, business collaboration, consulting professionalism, solution-sharing, and many other advantages prevented by 20th century business methods.
When we employ R-pM, we have the one fundamental right business method to organize and manage any enterprise for 21st century management, and leave all the obsolete wrong business methods and unsolvable 20th century problems behind.

Regular Photography Business Is Dying. Birthing Of 3d Photography Business!

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Of course I understand that the sentence “Regular photography business is dying” in this article title is too strong. The most talented photographers will be in business forever. I used it just to grab your attention to the problem that regular photography business got recently after starting a digital era.
Nowadays photo companies like Canon, Nikon and others are making simple to operate yet more and more advanced photo cameras and lenses, adding more new and useful features to the cameras, improving quality, sensitivity, noise reduction while at the same time cutting the price. Now everybody can buy a Digital SLR photo camera, read a photography book and take pretty good quality photos. Now we have more very affordable ink jet photo printers available in the market that can produce decent prints. There are many powerful photo editing programs for improving the images and making nice looking collages. The entire process of making nice pictures today is not difficult compared to the same process 10 years ago and much less expensive. That is good for the consumer but has put a great pressure on the professional photography business. Today anyone can buy computer, DSLR camera, ink jet photo printer and call themselves a professional photographer.
Today many people prefer to invite a friend to take their wedding photographs rather than use a professional wedding photographer. Those that do use a professional are expecting lower expenses as there are many standard photographers to choose from.Now many people prefer to make the photos by themselves without going to professional photographers and photo studios. That is why we can say that regular photography business is under huge pressure.
Over the years digital photography has become common place and technology has simplified and improved the resulting pictures to the point where even large companies in the photo processing industry are closing down outlets. Those that remain are trying to regain business by offering large format prints or prints on canvas, things the general public cannot produce. Many large stores which do not offer those services do not have photo departments anymore where previously they had big profitable photo departments.
But there is a new way for photo business, the business that is not easy to repeat by everybody and with very attractive product for customers! I am talking about 3D photography business.
3D Photography Business
There are several ways for taking 3D pictures and for most of them the viewer needs some special glasses for seeing 3D effect. That is not convenient for customers and not good for business. However there is one technology that does not need any kind of glasses. That is 3D lenticular technology.
3D lenticular technology is the most suitable for customers because people can hold the picture in the hands and see 3D, without crazy “crossing eyes” or having the special glasses. 3D lenticular pictures have the regular colors like regular photos; they can be in any sizes from small wallet size to big size for putting on a wall, they look like the regular photos just more alive because of the depth. That is why regular people prefer 3D lenticular images compare to other types of 3D pictures.
One of the main problems of making 3D lenticular images is a difficulty of taking the pictures and a very long and labour-consuming process of creating the pictures. For example,even couple years ago we spent at least 2-3 hours before getting an image, because almost all stages of process of creating 3D picture were manual.Of course, it is not acceptable for business because the price of each picture was very high. But luckily now, with modern 3D lenticular technology we can receive 3D lenticular picture in just 10 minutes and even less and most of this time is spending on printing because almost all steps of lenticular technology are automated now, for example, process could be so automated that period of time between triggering 3D camera and starting printing could be as low as 40 seconds. This In-Depth Image System was developed for covering all technology steps in process of producing of 3D lenticular pictures from taking the frames to creating 3D image. This system is easy to operate, for example, we can teach the people how to work with In-Depth Image System and produce 3D lenticular images during 3-4 hours and people do not have to be the experts in photography or in computer.
In-Depth Image System can be successfully used in many different photo market niches. There are:

Portrait photography;

School and graduation photography;

Event photography;

Pets photography;

Advertisement photography and so on.

In-Depth Image System could be used for establishing of 3D photo business because:

In-Depth Image System produces High Quality 3D Lenticular pictures in different sizes;

This system is simple to operate;

In-Depth Image technology of producing 3D lenticular images is easy and rapid;

There is no necessity to have very experienced staff;

The prices on 3D pictures are very competitive with the prices that ask regular photo studios for regular flat pictures;

It is almost impossible to repeat this process by customers themselves, so you will be the only expert in making 3D lenticular pictures in your area;

It is profitable.

Please, look at the real sample picture that were made by In-Depth Image System below. Unfortunately that is impossible to show the depth on that picture because computer monitor can show the flat images only. That is why I created animation GIF file from the frames taken by our system. Originally we shot 12 – 18 frames, so 3D lenticular pictures are much smoother and without any rough jumping like on animation pictures.

Controlling The Financial Performance Of Your Business

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There are numerous factors which impact on the performance and viability of your business. It is therefore imperative that you monitor and control your financial performance. Debt control and budgeting are two elements of this, and of particular importance is your business cash flow.

Many profitable businesses have gone under due to a lack of attention to their cash flow; they have insufficient cash available to pay their bills. Thus, you must plan and control your cash flow in order to effectively manage your business.

Some strategies that may assist in this include:

* Increasing the speed of cash receipts by good debt control strategies

* Avoiding excessive stock holdings by managing stock levels and obtaining reliable, prompt suppliers

* Planning the purchase of equipment and other capital expenditure for periods when surplus funds exist

* Planning to have sufficient reserves to carry your business through the inevitable periods when unexpected expenses are incurred

* Avoiding excessive investment in plant, equipment and other fixed assets which may leave too little working capital available (particularly in periods of falling prices, declining sales or increasing interest rates)

* Avoiding over borrowing as this may place a strain on working capital, loans still have to be repaid even if revenue is decreasing

* Maintain adequate working capital to fund the growth as increasing sales also means increasing costs, your working capital requirements therefore, need to be continually reviewed

* Delaying outgoings by taking advantage of the credit terms offered by your suppliers and paying when it suits your cash flow

* Reducing outgoings by taking advantage of discounts when appropriate and working capital permits

* And most importantly, regularly comparing your actual cash flows to your budgeted cash flows, analysing the differences, and taking action based on this analysis

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When To Use Embossing, Spot Uv And Foil Stamping On Business Cards

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Business card enhancement features like spot UV, embossing, and foil stamping can truly help differentiate your business in the minds of your customers and clients. But which one is the best? Read on to find out.

Embossed Business Cards

Embossing is where certain elements of your business card are raised by virtue of them getting pushed through from the opposite side of the card. The effect is similar to a credit card, where the account number is raised on the front and recessed on the back.

Embossing works well for text or even a water seal type of logo effect, however it does have limitations.

For one, you do not want artwork in the embossed area; you want the embossed areas to be clear of artwork on both sides or else the artwork and embossing will become jumbled and will look awful.

Additionally, most printers are not able to precisely line up embossing with ink. The exact embossed areas could shift 1/16 1/8 during the production process. So for example, if your card has a black background, the embossed areas must be black as well. You would not be able to have, say, white text embossed because it is not feasible for the embossing to line up with the underlying white text perfectly every time.

If you want your business card enhancement feature to allow for color that is different from the cards background color, consider either spot UV or foil stamping.

Spot UV Business Cards

Spot UV is where specific areas of your card are treated with a glossy coating. This effect does not impact the underlying color, it only makes the treated areas slightly raised and shiny relative to the non-glossy business card stock.

Typically, spot UV does not have the same alignment problems as embossing. With todays technology, spot UV can be precisely lined up against any ink-based design element. So here, if you had a black background with white text, you could have the text treated with spot UV so that it is shiny, raised, and white.

Spot UV works only on non-glossy cardstock, as doing spot UV on glossy business cards will not create a visible effect (everything is already glossy). Silk business cards are the best option for spot UV, because they are non-glossy and extremely durable.

Foil Stamped Business Cards

Foil stamping is where specific parts of your card are coated with a layer of metallic foil. It is typically offered in gold, silver, green, red or blue.

The foil stamped areas are not limited to only the cards background color like embossing. However, although color can be utilized, you are limited to the foil colors offered by the printer.

Also, foil stamped business cards are usually subject to the same shifting that could occur with embossed business cards, so it is important not to have any artwork in the stamped areas.

Which One Should You Use?

Generally speaking, none of these enhancements are available on glossy business cards. All 3 are most effective on silk business cards, so if you plan on utilizing a silk cardstock, your options are wide open.

Of the 3 options discussed, embossing is typically the least preferred because of the aforementioned color and artwork limitations. Additionally, embossed business cards are usually the most expensive of the three.

Foil stamping is also relatively expensive, but at least this feature offers more color options. The downside is that the foil can sometimes flake, peel or appear blotchy. Additionally, foil stamped business cards tend to become worn at an accelerated rate as they get pulled in and out of a wallet.

Most often, spot UV business cards provide the best bang for your buck. This option is by far the least expensive of the three, offers the full gamut of color availability, and is not subject to the same flaws as foil and embossing.