Nature of Business

World Markets

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World Markets can be defined as markets of the world encompassing all the markets of Asia, Europe, Americas, Australia and Africa. It can be stated that world markets have become more integrated as a result of globalization. The world market is common point where all the markets of the world converge. Hence emerges the concept of world supply or world demand or global supply and demand. World supply and demand are heavily influenced by the export and import of the developed vis-à-vis the developing countries. World markets play a key role in the development prospects of many countries of the world as the fluctuations originated there translates into supply and demand conditions in the home country. This can have adverse effects on home producers and consumers of various goods and services. An example would be the world prices of crude oil which wreaked havoc in many developing countries. World markets can also imply the world stock markets such as those present in the countries of the world as also internationally acclaimed stock exchanges such as the NASDAQ.

America Market
America Market is one among the free market system in the world. Find detailed on America Market along with market indicators.

European Market

European Market has become more integrated with the inception of the European Union (EU) in 1992. EU Single Market truly indicates the free movement of people, goods, services and capital across the member countries.

Germany Market

Germany Market is a highly developed market in the world. The market in Germany is generally based upon the doctrine of Social market Economy. Find more on Germany Market.

Japanese Market

In Japanese Market, the best performers are banking, insurance, real estate, retailing, automobiles and telecommunications sector.

Singapore Market

Spain Market

UK Market

Mexican Market

Netherlands Market

Asian Market

Australia Market

Belgium Market

Boston Market

Brazil Market

China Market

Eastern Market

France Market

Global Market

Hong Kong Market

Indian Market

Italian Market

Korean Market

Work at Home Business

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Home Business refers to the business whose main office is in the business-owners’ home. The business can be of any type or any size but it has to be operated from the owners’ home. These Home Businesses generally have small no. of employees. Most of the times, these employees are immediate family members of the business owner. So, many of the Home Businesses are also family businesses. Home Business suffers often from the lack of shop frontage, lack of advertising signs on the street and lack of parking space for the customers. It is unbelievable but true, that in spite of these problems of home business, the popular companies like Hallmark Cards, Baskin-Robbins Ice cream started operating from their home.

Home Based Business
Home Based Business relies upon important categories such as planning for the business, legalizing the business, accumulation of capital, and setting up of home based office for the business:

Home Business Directory

Home Business Directory is used as an ultimate Guidebook for the people operating in the Home Business. Let us find the importance of home business directory:

Home Business Insurance
Home Business Insurance can be defined as an insurance Coverage for everything associated with the Home Businesses:

Business and Real Estate

Small Real Estate Business

Home Real Estate Business

Real Estate Business

Real Estate Business Development

Small Home Business

Commercial Real Estate Business

Investing Real Estate Business

Real Estate Business Brokers

Utilities Industry

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Utilities industry includes companies that offer services like electric power, steam supply, natural gas, and sewage removal.

Utilities industry is one of the rapidly evolving sectors. Earlier focus used to be on integration of ownership of functions like production, distribution, and customers. But companies in order to gain competitive advantage have started focusing on singular aspects of business. Regulators also have had a role to play in this.

Electric power industry in US

Electric industry in US has served as a regulated monopoly. In return customers have been assured of reliable energy supply. Investors are almost guaranteed of returns on their investment. But rising prices necessitated deregulation of this sector.

Deregulation has increased competition between utilities. Increased competition has led to increase in efficiencies. Prices are also being either held down or reduced in order to attract customers.

Sewage removal
Sewage removal sector includes services like collection, treatment, and disposal of waste. Removal of sewage is done through sewer systems and sewage treatment facilities.

Employment

As per US Bureau of Labor Statistics, utilities sector accounted for about 0.5 percent of total employment. Of all business establishments, utilities sector accounted for about 0.2 percent. Average annual employment with utilities sector has gone down from about 689,300 in 1994 to 580,800 in 2003.

Earnings

In 2003, average hourly earnings of utilities sector workers was estimated to be around $24.76 for non-supervisory positions. Average weekly hours in 2003 was around 41.1 in 2003.

Challenges

Utilities industry faces a lot of challenges. It has to address sustainability and climate change issues. Transparency is required at all levels to achieve sustainability. Climate changes have posed a difficult challenge to utilities industry where environmental, remediation, and health responsibilities have to be taken into consideration. For proper functioning of utilities sector, compliance with regulatory and reporting requirements is necessary. It will help in improving performance and increase operational efficiency. Other challenges faced by utilities industry include management of financial risk, consolidation, and securing supply.

US Trade

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U.S. foreign trade and global economic policies

have changed direction dramatically during the several years that the United States has been a country. In the early days of the nation's history, government and business mostly concentrated on developing the domestic economy irrespective of what went on abroad. But since the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II, the country generally has sought to reduce trade barriers and coordinate the world economic system.

This commitment to free trade has both economic and political roots; the United States increasingly has come to see open trade as a means not only of advancing its own economic interests but also as a key to building peaceful relations among nations.

Average annual growth of population has been 1.1% from 1997 to 2003, which is still higher than other high-income countries’ figure of 0.6 %. The US economy has an edge over other rich countries as indicated by its labour force growth rate of 1.3% (1997-03), while other high income countries have less than 1% growth in workforce over these years.

However, since the end of the 20th century, a growing trade deficit has brought some ambivalence in the minds of American people about trade liberalization. The United States had experienced trade surpluses during most of the years following World War II. But oil price shocks in 1973-1974 and 1979-1980 and the global recession that followed the second oil price shock caused international trade to stagnate.

At the same time, the United States began to feel shifts in international competitiveness. By the late 1970s, many countries, particularly newly industrializing countries, were growing increasingly competitive in international export markets. South Korea, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Brazil, among others, had become efficient producers of steel, textiles, footwear, auto parts, and many other consumer products. The 2003 estimates show a current account deficit of $ 541,834 million.

CHALLENGES IN THE 21st CENTURY

Recently, the IMF has described the US current account deficit as unsustainable . The International Monetary Fund has said it could have a significant adverse effect on interest rates and global capital markets.

The American economy is observing a record-low household saving rate and a large federal fiscal deficit. Thus it is essential to support the adjustment by strong US national saving to avoid a burden falling on investment and growth, both in America and abroad.
Like many countries in the world, the United States too had been undergoing profound economic changes. A wave of technological innovations in computing, telecommunications, and the biological sciences were profoundly affecting how Americans work and play. At the same time, historical factors like collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the growing economic strength of Western Europe, and more recently the emergence of powerful economies in Asia, expanding economic opportunities in Latin America and Africa, have had affected US economy.

The increased global integration of business and finance posed new opportunities as well as risks. All of these changes were leading people in the US to re-examine everything from how they organize their workplaces to the role of government. Perhaps as a result, many workers, while content with their current status, look to the future with uncertainty.

The US economy though a lot better than many economies, face some other long-term challenges. Notwithstanding the fact that many Americans have achieved economic security and some have accumulated great wealth, significant numbers -- especially unmarried mothers and their children -- continue to live in poverty. Disparities in wealth, while not as great as in some other countries, can be seen as still larger than in many. Environmental quality remains a major concern. Substantial numbers of Americans lacked health insurance. And global economic integration has brought some dislocation along with many advantages. In particular, traditional manufacturing industries have suffered setbacks, and the nation has been facing a large and seemingly irreversible deficit in its trade with other countries.

The response to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 showed the remarkable resilience of the economy. Moderate recovery took place in 2002, with the GDP growth rate rising to 2.45%. A major short-term problem in first half 2002 was a sharp decline in the stock market, fueled in part by the exposure of dubious accounting practices in some major corporations.

The Iraq war in March/April 2003 shifted resources to military industries and introduced uncertainties about investment and employment in other sectors of the economy. Though, the United States will continue to be the world leader for many more years, it will have to resolve some long-term problems in order to sustain the growth. These include inadequate investment in economic infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population, sizable trade deficits, and stagnation of family income in the lower economic groups US Trade Figures

The United Kingdom Import and Export

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The UK Economy ranks sixth in the world in terms of export of commodities and services. The UK Economy does not lag far behind the US in terms of foreign investments. The expanding European Union as well as the large untapped markets in the developing countries are opening new avenues to earn huge financial gains and the overseas investment companies of UK are making rapid in roads into them.

A considerable amount of the food supplies necessary to meet the demands have to be imported from abroad. The UK Economy ranks fourth in the world in terms of volume of imports.

The main trading partners of UK in 2003 were European Union (more than 50%), US, Asia, Middle East, Australia Latin America and Africa.

Making improvements in the quality of life of its people, could also be one of the future challenges for the nation, as other European countries like Norway, Sweden and Switzerland are ranked above UK in terms of HDI.

Foreign Trade

However, imports have exceeded exports and the current account deficit, as on September 2004, was estimated to be US $ 15.8 billion.

Balance of Payments

The trade deficit of the UK Economy in goods and services has reduced by a smaller margin as of the third quarter of 2006, a further reduction from the earlier decreased mark (as recorded at the end of the second quarter) showing a gradual decrease. As of recent, the deficit is somewhat flat.

Balance of Payment

CHALLENGES FACING UK

Government consumption has been restricted in recent years by strict controls on public spending, but is set to rise again over the next few years as the government strives to improve deficient public services. Given the deterioration in public finances owing to disappointing tax receipts, the government's main priority is to bring changes in its fiscal rules while making good its promises on public services such as health, education and transport.

The government's longer-term priority is to implement reforms to raise the country's productivity performance (which remains below the OECD average).

Also, the UK's relations with the EU could be headed for a crisis if, as seems likely, it fails to ratify the EU constitution in a referendum in 2006.

So far, there is little or no prospect of the UK holding a referendum to join economic and monetary union over the next five years The share of GDP accounted for by gross fixed investment, typically fluctuates in a range of 16-17% of GDP.

The very low level of public investment depresses the rate of overall fixed capital formation in the UK. Thus, this is one area, which needs to be corrected.

Making improvements in the quality of life of its people, could also be one of the future challenges for the nation, as other European countries like Norway, Sweden and Switzerland are ranked above UK in terms of HDI.

Textile Industry

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The history of development in World Textile industry was started in Britain as the spinning and weaving machines were invented in that country.

High production of wool, cotton and silk over the world has boosted the industry in recent years. Though the industry was started in UK, still in 19th Century the textile production passed to Europe and North America after mechanization process in those areas. From time to time Japan, China and India took part in industrializing their economies and concentrated more in that sector.

Japan, India, Hong Kong and China became leading producers due to their cheap labour supply, which is an important factor for the industry.

Global Textile Scenario

According to statistics, the global textile market possesses a worth of more than $400 billions presently. In a more globalize environment, the industry has faced high competition as well as opportunities. It is predicted that Global textile production will grow by 25 percent between 2002 and 2010 and Asian region will largely contribute in this regard.

WTO In Textile Industry

The (WTO) has taken so many steps for uplifting this sector. In the year 1995, WTO had renewed its MFA and adopted Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC), which states that all quotas on textile and clothing will be removed among WTO member countries.

However the level of exports in textiles from developing countries is increasing even if in the presence of high tariffs and quantitative restrictions by economically developed countries.

Moreover the role of multifunctional textiles, eco-textiles, e-textiles and customized textiles are considered as the future of textile industry.

Stock Market

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Stock Market is the most important market of the modern capitalist economy. Now-a-days, the performance of an economy is judged on the basis of the rise and fall of its financial market. The stocks reflect the performance of the performance of the respective companies and the index shows the overall picture of the entire market. This helps in gauging the health of the economy as a whole. Stock Market gives indication to the investors (both domestic and foreign) about their potential of their investment and the expected return from it.

Stock Market plays the coveted role of channelization of idle savings fund of the households (general public) to the corporates for productive investment. On one hand, the investors get the chance of becoming the shareholder of the company and on the other hand, the businesses, especially the small ones, get the required funds for expansion.

Stock is the ownership of certificate (either in physical or dematerialized form) of any company.

Stock Market Index
Stock Market Index is selected by considering a set of stocks among the total stocks, which represent all most all the sectors of an economy.

US Stock Market
Major companies over the world coming under Fortune 500 list are listed in US Stock Market. Get an overview on the US stock market.

Stock Market Charts

Stock Market Charts can be defined as series of the prices of stocks plotted over a particular time period. Find more on stock market charts

Stock Market Strategies

Stock Market Trends

European Stock Market

Shanghai Stock Market

Stock Market Quotes

Stock Market Prices

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Stock Market Companies

World Stock Market

Japanese Stock Market

Stock Market Watch

Stock Market believes in unhindered functioning of the market and considers that the market itself produces optimum results through its invisible hands (demand-supply mechanism). It considers market to be supreme and it discounts every incident (domestic economy, world economy, specific company news, etc.) around the world.

The underlying theory behind the functioning of Stock Market is the supply side economics which emphasizes the economic concepts such as Laffer Curve. Share Market generally advocates the philosophy of laissez-faire (free market) economy and always argue in favor of less restrictive import and immigration policies.

Share Market is an organized market where shares are issued and traded. These shares are either traded through Stock exchange or Over-the-Counter in physical or electronic form.

Share Market can be divided into two parts :-

    * Primary Market
    * Secondary Market

Primary Market deals with securities that are channelized through the Initial Public Offer (IPO) route.

Secondary Market is the market where the investors trade securities among themselves in the quest of making profit.

Common stocks, bonds, preferential stocks, convertible preferential stocks, warrants, etc are part of the stock market.

Some of the major Stock Markets around the world are :-

    * New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
    * NASDAQ
    * London Stock Exchange
    * Tokyo Stock Exchange
    * Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Indian (National Stock Exchange of India and Bombay Stock Exchange)and Chinese (Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange) bourses are also coming up very fast and are performing magnificently. They are projected to be the future front runners of the world along with USA.

Software Industry

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Adoption of new liberal policies in India has given birth immense opportunities to its industries. Success story of India's Software Industry is a step in the same direction.

The Software Industry, which is a main component of the Information technology, has brought tremendous success for the emerging economy.

India's young aged manpower is the key behind this success story. Presently there are more than 500 software firms in the country.

Overview on India's Software Industry

According to statistics, country's software exports reached total revenues of Rs 46100 crores. The share of total Indian exports form 4.9 per cent in 1997 to 20.4 percent in 2002-03. It is expected that the industry will generate a total employment of around four millions peoples, which accounts for 7 per cent of India's total GDP as in the year 2008.

The year 1995-96 was a boom for the industry. The performance of the industry over the years is as follows:

(In terms of US $ millions)

1995-961996-971997-981998-991999-20002000-01*Domestic software Market490670920125017002450Software Exports73410851750265040006300Indian Software Industry122417552670390057008750

(* Source: NASSCOM)

India's Software Exports:

Software exports has major share in India's total exports. As of the year 2004-05, both software and services revenue grew by 32 percent to $ 22 billions and $ 28.5 billions in 2005-06.

According to NASSCOM, India's domestic market, grew by 24 per cent. Presently Indian companies have concentrated on only two largest IT service markets. They are USA and the UK. Even Canada, Japan, Germany and France represent huge growth potential in the industry.

Progress of IT Industry
(In terms of US $ billion)

Year2003-042004-052005-06*IT software and service exports9.212.015.2ITE-BPO exports3.65.27.3Domestic market3.94.86.0Total16.722.028.5

*Estimated
Source: Ministry of Communications and IT.

Conclusion:

The credit goes to technical young peoples and English-speaking scientific professionals for the success in India's software industry. Presently for further strengthening the industry, the Government has stepped forward with more qualitative institutes.

Small Scale Business

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Small Scale Businesses help every economy to achieve industrial growth and industrial diversification. Small Scale Business Enterprises are mainly of four different categories:

1.Small Scale Industrial Undertaking

A Business Enterprise will be called Small Scale Business Undertaking if Investment in Fixed Assets, in Plant and Machinery, whether held on Ownership basis or on Lease or on Hire Purchase does not exceed 10 million Rupees and it is in no way owned, controlled or subsidiary of any other industrial undertaking. Here it should be explained that if two or more enterprises are set up by a same person as a sole proprietor, each such enterprise shall be considered to be controlled by the other industrial undertaking or undertakings. If two or more undertakings are set up as partnership firms and one or more partners are common, then each enterprise shall be considered as controlled by other industrial undertakings. In such cases none of these business enterprises will be graded as Small Scale Industrial Undertaking even if Investment is below 10 million. Here it should also be mentioned that investment in Plant and Machinery includes cost of tools, dies, spare parts for maintenance, R&D equipments, pollution control equipments, generator sets, fire-fighting equipments, cost of installation of plant and machinery, cost of transportation of machinery and cost of import duty, sales tax, shipping charges in case of imported machinery.

2.Ancillary Industrial Undertakings

Ancillary Industrial Undertaking is that business enterprise which is engaged in manufacturing and supplying of parts, components and intermediaries or is engaged in providing services by the amount not less than 50% of its total production or services and the total investment in fixed assets, in plant and machinery, whether held on ownership basis or on lease or on hire purchase does not exceed 10 million rupees.

Small Business Opportunity

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UK Small Business Finance

3.Tiny Enterprise

Tiny Enterprise is that business enterprise in which total investment in plant and machinery does not exceed 2.5 million rupees.

4.Enterprise by Women Entrepreneurs

If a small business enterprise is operated by one or more women entrepreneurs or if there is women proprietorship or if women have individually or jointly not less than 51% capital investment as partners or shareholders, then the business enterprise will be graded as Enterprise by Women Entrepreneurs.The contribution of Small Scale Business to the country is enormous. Its’ contributions to the different genres of the economy are:
# Production Contribution-The small-scale sector has really grown over the years revealing a highly impressive growth rate in every plan period. The small-scale businesses altogether produce almost 40% of gross manufacture of Indian Economy.
# Employment Generation Contribution-Next to Agriculture, Small Scale Industries Sector in India generates largest Number of employments, which is very crucial for an overpopulated country like India.
# Export Contribution-Small Scale Businesses in India play a vital role as far as the export of the economy is concerned.45% to 50% of total export of the economy is generated by small-scale enterprises. Among these almost 35% is direct export and nearly 15% is indirect export. This indirect export happens through merchant exporters, trading houses or in the form of export order from large business houses, which use intermediary goods made by small-scale industries in manufacturing finished products.

Opportunities in Small Scale Business

As Small Scale Businesses are less capital intensive and highly labor intensive, there are huge opportunities for this sector in a labor-abundant capital-scarce economy like India. The other factors that are cater to the fast growth of this sector are Extensive Promotion & Support by the govt., available grants & Subsidies, raw material procurement, rising export demand for Indian products and rising domestic demand which is the result of overall economic growth. But, the growth rates can increase further if more development measures are taken to improve the Technology and Marketing side of Small Scale Business and thus small-scale businesses can construct the most dynamic and vibrant sector of the economy.

Savings Bonds

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Savings bonds are debt instruments issued by the government. While a savings bond is considered a safe investment, it offers a very low rate of interest as compared to other investment options, such as equities.

The US Department of the Treasury issues savings bonds. The interest rates offered on such bonds are subject to change every May and November, based on the current market rates and/or inflation.
Saving Bonds: Procedure

US savings bonds can be acquired from commercial banks, most of which act as agents for the Treasury. They can also be purchased through your employer (through payroll deductions) and over the Internet. A savings bond may be registered in the name of a single person, two people or a primary owner and a beneficiary. These are known as single ownership, co-ownership and beneficiary savings bonds, respectively. At the time of maturity, savings bonds can be redeemed at various banks or any of the branches of the Federal Reserve.

It is important to keep a record of the serial numbers, issue dates and denominations of the savings bonds in case they are lost, stolen or accidentally destroyed. This information will need to be submitted to the Department of the Treasury to ensurethat your bonds are replaced.
Types of Savings Bonds

The two main types of savings bonds are:

Series EE bonds: These savings bonds have a 30-year maturity period. Series EE bonds are typically sold at half their parvalue. While they are guaranteed to become worth their face value by the end of the term, this may happen much earlier, following which they continue to gain value. The principal is repaid, along with the interest, as a lump sum at the end of the term.

Series I bonds: These savings bonds are sold at their par value. They offer a fixed interest rate and an inflation premium. Series I bonds are designed for hedging inflation, with the premium protecting the purchasing power of the principal.
Advantages of Savings Bonds

The advantages of savings bonds are:

    * Offer a higher interest rate than savings accounts.

    * Absolute relief from local and state taxes.

    * Nominal level of initial capital investment.

    * Freedom from paying commission to brokers.

    * Assured returns and no threat from a turbulent market.

Drawbacks of Savings Bonds

The drawbacks of savings bonds are:

    * An investor receives only fixed interest on the capital invested. There is no option of capital gains from market swings.

    * Low interest rate as compared to other investment options.

    * Non transferable and do not have the status of an interest bearing security.

    * Cannot be offered as collateral when applying for loans.

    * Not liquid and do not have a secondary market.

Since the interest rates are typically low on savings bonds, they are a good investment option only for the medium term. Savings bonds are typically not favored by investors with longer horizons (more than twenty years).

Oil and Gas Industry

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The Oil Industry started off more than five thousand years back. Oil sipping up from the ground were used to make the boats waterproof in the Middle East and also used as medicating as well as for painting different things.

The demand for Oil was much higher than what it actually produced and this brought forward the concept of making oil production companies which is collectively known as the Oil Industry.

The Oil Industry is a very important industry in the world and a lot depends on the price of the oil and it has been observed that whenever the oil prices increase the price of various products also increases. The Oil Industry also through oil production accounts for a large amount of the consumption of energy. In this issue the Middle East is in the first position and the lowest consumption is done by the countries in Europe.

.According to the statistics the amount of oil consumed by the world every year is as many as 30 billion barrel among which nearly 25 percent of the oil consumption is done by United States of America. The Oil Industry can be parted in two, Upstream and Downstream. The importance of oil in the world evolved at a slow pace but once it was identified, it became one of the most important thing in the lives of human beings.

Oil Industry Statistics : The oil sector is considered to be one of the important areas of concern for the

It has acted as a challenge before the global economic scenario. There is fast growing oil consumption in the non- Asian countries.

The non-OECD Asia (Including both India and China) accounts for around 40 percent of the total increase in world oil use. From estimation it is found that to meet the projected increase in world oil demand the total petroleum supply in 2030 is required to reach 118 million barrels per day from 80 million barrels per day as of the year 2003.

The world oil consumption has increased by 1.2 million barrels per day in the year 2005, even after the increase of 2.6 million barrels per day as in the year 2004.

In the year 2004, China's oil use have increased by 0.9 million barrels per day and at the same time its demand increased by only 0.4 million barrels per day in 2005.

Among the various sectors, the transportation sector in the world has led to a high pressure to the industry, as there are few alternatives to the petroleum.

Oil & Gas Journal in its report has shown that world oil reserves estimated at 1,293 billion barrels as of January 1, 2006.
Further Resources

Gain Free access to reports previously only available to Governments and select Intelligence agencies. These reports are part of the OilPrice.com Intelligence Newsletter that focuses on: Geopolitics, Economics, Energy Issues, Conflicts, Crude Oil, Gold & Many other topics. Their information is sourced through a wide network of contacts and is not available from traditional news outlets and data providers.

NAFTA

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The NAFTA was framed on January, 1994. The three countries, namely, Mexico, Canada and the United States of America entered into the NAFTA or the North American Free Trade Agreement to form the biggest free trade zone in the world. NAFTA or North American Free Trade Agreement, has propelled growth in the economy of the three member nations since the year 1994. NAFTA has also led to the increase in the standards of living of the people of its member nations.

Implementing NAFTA has ensured removal of several obstacles with regard to investment and trade in the Canada, Mexico and United States of America.
Effects of implementing the NAFTA:
Agriculture sector:

# Non tariff obstacles pertaining to trade in agriculture between Mexico and United States of America were dissolved. In addition to this, there were other tariffs, which faced removal soon after its implementation.
# It has also been anticipated that majority of the agricultural provisions are likely to be brought into force by the year 2008.
# Agricultural provisions of United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement, which was in force since the year 1989, was included in NAFTA.
Effect of NAFTA on investment:
Implementation of NAFTA, influenced investments in a positive manner. The data given below shows the investment trend with regard to Canada. The other two member partners also registered a healthy growth in investment.

Since the year 1994, stock of FDI or foreign direct investment in Canada has been approximately, USD279 billion(yearly). In the year 2005, the overall foreign direct investment in Canada was USD415 billion. Foreign direct investment by United States of America in Canada escalated to approximately, USD266 billion in the year 2005. Conversely, direct investment by Canada in other NAFTA member nations also showed an increase and attained the USD$213.7 billion mark in USA and USD3.14 billion in its other member nation- Mexico.

Marketing

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According to the American Marketing Association, marketing is an activity that involves a vast range of institutions and processes dedicated to the creation, communication, delivery and exchange of offers. The process of marketing locates unmet needs and develops products and services catering to them. Eventually, it creates value for clients, partners, buyers and the society in general.
The Four Ps of Marketing

Professor Neil Borden of the Harvard Business School studied various company specific actions that influence a consumer’s buying decision and proposed a marketing mix of four elements:

    * Product: It includes product related specifications and their impact on the final need of the end user.

    * Pricing: This deals with the pricing of products in terms of monetary as well as other aspects related to time and energy.

    * Place: It comprises of elements related to the distribution and positioning of products among customers.
    * Promotion: This includes domains like advertising, publicity and branding as well as other activities that are governed by the basic tenet of gaining visibility among the target audience.

The other important marketing activities include:

    * Need identification

    * Competitor analysis

    * Packaging decisions

    * Sales

    * Media relations

    * Customer service and customer satisfaction

Brand Marketing

Marketing has evolved into a wide domain that includes an amalgamation of different activities including advertising, publicity, research and creating a web presence. Brand marketing involves creating a company’s identify or image and actively spreading its awareness in the marketplace. Brand marketing may fall under one of the following two categories:

    * Above the line marketing: The distribution of promotional messages through the use of mass media, such as the radio, newspapers or the television, is known as above the line marketing.

    * Below the line marketing: This involves delayed or instant incentives offered to potential customers in cash or kind. These incentives are offered for a short term to boost the popularity and sales of a product.

Both direct and indirect forms of marketing have their own advantages. While reaching customers on a one-on-one basis has a greater impact, publicizing through media has a wider reach. Faced with cutthroat competition, marketers prefer to deploy an eclectic marketing strategy.
Sales & Marketing

    * Marketing Industry, Marketing Trade
    * Sales Industry, Sales Trade
    * The Sales Funnel

Marketing for Dummies Guides

    * Marketing for Dummies
    * Marketing Plan
    * Marketing Strategy
    * Positioning
    * Differentiation
    * Brand Equity
    * Brand Marketing
    * Direct Marketing
    * RFM - Recency Frequency Monetary
    * Breakeven Response Rate
    * Customer Profitability
    * CLV - Customer Lifetime Value
    * Loyalty Program
    * The 4 Ps
    * The Campaign Framework
    * The Marketing Budget
    * The Marketing Mix

Measuring, Marketing, Metrics & KPIs

    * KPI - The One Key Marketing Metric
    * Marketing KPIs and Metrics
    * Measuring Marketing
    * ROMI - Return on Marketing Investment
    * Marketing Finance
    * Financial KPIs
    * Market Share
    * Mind Share
    * Customer Satisfaction (Cust Sat)
    * Net Promoter Score
    * Kano Model

Online Marketing/ Digital Marketing

    * CPM Advertising
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    * Click Through Rate (CTR or Click Thru Rate)
    * Conversion Rate
    * SEO Marketing
    * SERP: Search Engine Ranking Page
    * Behavioral Email
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    * Brand Equity
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    * Behavioral Email
    * Sales Industry, Sales Trade
    * Breakeven Response Rate
    * Customer Satisfaction (Cust Sat)
    * Conversion Rate
    * CPA Marketing
    * Financial KPIS - Financial Metrics
    * The Marketing Mix
    * Marketing Industry, Marketing Trade
    * Marketing Plan
    * CLV - Customer Lifetime Value
    * Positioning
    * The Marketing Budget
    * CPM Advertising
    * Measuring Marketing
    * SEO Marketing
    * The Sales Funnel
    * Direct Marketing
    * Guerilla Marketing
    * Marketing for Dummies
    * Marketing Finance
    * KPI - The One Key Marketing KPI
    * The 4 Ps: Product, Price, Place, Promotion
    * Mind Share
    * The Campaign Framework
    * Customer Profitability
    * Net Promoter Score
    * Differentation
    * ROMI - Return On Marketing Investment
    * Brand Marketing
    * What is Market Share? Market Share Metrics, Market Share Formula
    * Loyalty Program
    * Click Through Rate (CTR)
    * Kano Model
    * Marketing KPIs and Metrics
    * RFM - Recency Frequency Monetary
    * SERP - Search Engine Ranking Page
    * Marketing Strategy

Types of Investment

2011-01-14T21:35:00.000-08:00

Investment refers to the concept of deferred consumption, which involves purchasing an asset, giving a loan or keeping funds in a bank account with the aim of generating future returns. Various investment options are available, offering differing risk-reward trade offs. An understanding of the core concepts and a thorough analysis of the options can help an investor create a portfolio that maximizes returns while minimizing risk exposure.
Types of Investments

The various types of investment are:

    * Cash investments: These include savings bank accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs) and treasury bills. These investments pay a low rate of interest and are risky options in periods of inflation.

    * Debt securities: This form of investment provides returns in the form of fixed periodic payments and possible capital appreciation at maturity. It is a safer and more 'risk-free' investment tool than equities. However, the returns are also generally lower than other securities.

    * Stocks: Buying stocks (also called equities) makes you a part-owner of the business and entitles you to a share of the profits generated by the company. Stocks are more volatile and riskier than bonds.

    * Mutual funds: This is a collection of stocks and bonds and involves paying a professional manager to select specific securities for you. The prime advantage of this investment is that you do not have to bother with tracking the investment. There may be bond, stock- or index-based mutual funds.

    * Derivatives: These are financial contracts the values of which are derived from the value of the underlying assets, such as equities, commodities and bonds, on which they are based. Derivatives can be in the form of futures, options and swaps. Derivatives are used to minimize the risk of loss resulting from fluctuations in the value of the underlying assets (hedging).

    * Commodities: The items that are traded on the commodities market are agricultural and industrial commodities. These items need to be standardized and must be in a basic, raw and unprocessed state. The trading of commodities is associated with high risk and high reward. Trading in commodity futures requires specialized knowledge and in-depth analysis.

    * Real estate: This investment involves a long-term commitment of funds and gains that are generated through rental or lease income as well as capital appreciation. This includes investments into residential or commercial properties.

Further Resources

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Investment Banks

2011-01-14T21:34:00.001-08:00

Banking Investment:
Banks have relatively higher importance in the field of investment. Though the investment banks play a major role in the field of investment, still in the recent years the commercial banks have raised their importance by concentrating more on the investment segment.

Some of the top investment banks over the world are as follows:

    * Anderson & Strudwick
    * Bulltick Capital Markets
    * Canaccord Adams
    * Ferris, Baker Watts, Inc.
    * Friedman Billings Ramsey
    * Genuity Capital Markets
    * Goldman Sachs
    * Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin
    * Jefferies & Co
    * Janney Montgomery Scott
    * Ladenburg Thalmann
    * Lehman Brothers
    * Macquarie Bank
    * Morgan Stanley
    * Newbury Piret
    * Noble Bank (UK)
    * Northern Securities (Canada)
    * Robert W. Baird & Company
    * Stephens Inc.
    * ThinkEquity Partners, LLC
    * William Blair & Company

India's Trade

2011-01-14T21:33:00.000-08:00

Having been an agro-based economy, Indian trade has always been devoid of manufactured or industrial goods. Post liberalisation, imports dominated the Indian trade scene in the form of heavy machinery and information technology products and, thus, created an imbalance of trade.
India Trade: Exports

Indian trade was impacted by the global recession of 2007-2009. Indian exports fell from $200.9 billion in 2008 to $165 billion in 2009. India ranked 22nd in the world in terms of export volume.

Being a country with a huge workforce, India has seen its trade being boosted by the production of precious stones and metals. The various other export commodities that India exports are:

    *      Petroleum products
    *      Machinery
    *      Iron and steel
    *      Chemicals
    *      Vehicles
    *      Apparel

India’s main export partners are:
    *      UAE
    *      US
    *      China
    *      Singapore

The following graph shows how the above countries have contributed to the total volume:

India: Export Partners, 2009

Indian trade has undergone massive restructuring following the 1991 liberalisation policies. Ever since, India’s exports have experienced a growth rate of 18.11%. The big surprise has been the import sector that has experienced a growth rate of 34.30%.

India Trade: Imports

The Indian economy is headed towards becoming a developed economy and all its sectors are in need of machinery and energy. Therefore, Indian imports are dominated by crude oil and machines. Other imported commodities are:

    * Precious stones
    * Fertilizer
    * Iron and steel
    * Gold & Silver
    * Electronic Goods
    * Machinery other than Electrical
    * Organic & Inorganic Chemicals
    * Metalliferous Ores & Products
    * Coal
    * Transport Equipment

In 2009, total imports amounted to $253.9 billion, down from the 2008 figure of $322.3 billion. India ranked fifteenth in the world in terms of import volume.

India’s import partners are:

    * China 10.8%
    * Saudi Arabia 6.9%
    * US 6.7%U
    * AE 6.7%
    * Iran 4.2%

India: Import Partners, 2009

Indian trade has undergone massive restructuring following the 1991 liberalisation policies. Ever since, India’s exports have experienced a growth rate of 18.11%. The big surprise has been the import sector that has experienced a growth rate of 34.30%.

Global Trade

2011-01-14T21:32:00.000-08:00

Global trade is the exchange of raw materials, goods and services across the geographical borders of countries across the globe. Foreign trade got its first impetus from the industrial revolution in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Rapid development in transportation facilities resulted in a surge in international trade in the twentieth century. Today, international trade has taken the form of outsourcing and multinational companies (companies that have a presence in several countries).

The History of World Trade

World trade was prevalent much before the formation of nation states. Some important examples of ancient long distance trade are:

    * The Egyptians imported spices from Arabia and the ‘Land of Punt’ (present day Somalia).

    * The Ptolemaic dynasty, which ruled in Egypt from 305 BC to 30 BC, traded with India.

    * Arabian vessels were used to transport Indian goods to Aden.

    * Chinese goods made their way to India, Persia and Rome through the silk route.

From the eighteenth century, industrialization and colonization went hand in hand. The European nations increased their political power through trade. They exploited trading opportunities in eastern countries like India.

Present Global Trade Scenario

There was a dramatic rise in world trade volumes in the twentieth century. While in 1928, world exports amounted to US$31.7 billion, this figure had risen to US$4,215,000.2 billion by 1994. Studies conducted by the UNCTAD in 1994 show that trade in commercial services rose much faster than merchandise trade between 1970 and 1990.

The G-7 group, comprising of the US, France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Japan and Canada, has always commanded a dominant position in world trade. Gradually the significance of certain Asia Pacific nations, such as China, Singapore, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea, has risen.

World Trade Organization

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the most powerful body for controlling the dynamics of global trade. It has the power to enforce its rules through sanctions and helps in the formulation of trade agreements between various countries. It also oversees that agreement terms are adhered to by the participating countries and resolves disputes.

International Trade Models

The theory of international trade and its possible effects can be explained with the help of the following models:

Absolute Advantage Theory

Country A is said to have absolute advantage over country B if it can produce commodity C with lower cost of resources than Country B. On the other hand Country B can have an absolute advantage over country A in the production of commodity D. In this case the countries A and B would benefit by trade. Adam Smith put forward his theory of absolute advantage.

Comparative Advantage Theory

According to this theory a country would produce and specialize in those commodities in which it has comparative advantage in terms of resources. The relative factor endowments in a country play a vital role to govern the pattern of trade.

Heckscher-Ohlin Model

According to this theory a country will export that good which utilizes its abundant its factor of production more intensively. Conversely, the country will import goods that utilize factors of production that re locally less abundant in nature. Hence we see that variation in the factor endowments play a key role in the pattern of international trade in the case of the Heckscher-Ohlin Model.

On testing this theory empirically Wasily Leotieff found that this theory might not hold true always. For instance United States was found to export commodities that were labor intensive although it was a capital abundant country itself. This phenomenon was termed as the Leontief Paradox.

Specific Factors Model

This model assumes labor to be mobile but capital fixed in the short run. According to this model if the price of a commodity increases then the producer of that used the specific factor to produce the good would profit. The model is most suited for particular types of industries.

Gravity Model

According to this model the distance between the countries would influence the pattern of trade. Econometric findings have also supported this assumption.

Forex Trading

2011-01-14T21:31:00.001-08:00

Forex trading amounts to the largest amount of financial transactions in the world. The forex market has become the cynosure of world traders. The ease of trading and the leverage offered make forex trading truly viable and lucrative. However, one should learn the various aspects of the forex market before investing. Incomplete knowledge about forex trading can cause huge losses.
Margin Forex Trading

Forex is generally traded on margins. This means that a trader can open an account at a small price and trade through it. Due to the high leverage offered, it is possible for even low deposits to yield huge profits. Most of the brokers offer margin accounts and let traders operate at as low as 1%. This means that for a trade worth $100,000, the trader only needs to deposit $1,000. Leverage works both ways, which means that it multiplies both profits and losses.

Forex Trading Quotes

Forex trading is done through quotes that indicate the rate of exchange of one currency in terms of another. For example, in the quote of USD/JPY- 94.9036/94.9040, the figures mean that by selling USD (base currency) a person will get 94.9036 JPY whereas buying a USD will cost 94.9036 JPY. The buying price is usually high and the difference between the two prices is measured in pips. In the aforementioned example, there was a 4 pip difference.

Forex Trading: Spread and Commissions

Most of the forex brokers operate without any commission. They make money through the spread differences. Spread is the quote specific to a currency pair. Even a single pip movement can amplify into big profits through leverage.

Forex Trading: Spot or Forward

Forex trading is done in two ways:

    * Spot
    * Forward

Spot trading is done in real time on current prices. The traders ask or bid for the currency through the trading platforms and such trades are settled within 2 days. A forward trade is a settlement made in advance for a specific date and time with a specific amount of forex.
For a successful forex trading experience, there are other factors like fundamental and technical analyses that a trader must go through incisively. Otherwise, forex trading will remain a tough investment option to master with all its vagaries and volatility.

Energy saving companies

2011-01-14T21:30:00.005-08:00

Energy saving companies specialize in offering energy efficient solutions to the customers. The products and services offered by energy saving companies are designed to ensure efficient use of energy and bring about favorable changes in the climatic conditions.

Energy saving companies put stress on use of renewable sources of energy. With their experienced group of professionals, these companies carry out a number of research and development programs to evolve energy efficient solutions. The solutions offered by energy saving companies utilize latest technologies to minimize the requirement of energy and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. This in turn has positive effects like reduction of electricity consumption and addition to the long-term savings of the consumers.
Products and Services of Energy Saving Companies at a Glance

The products and services of energy saving companies are provided in accordance with the International Energy Efficiency Standards. Energy saving bulbs, fans, water heaters, motion sensors, and power factor correction facilities are some of the major products offered by energy saving companies. Some of these companies provide the customers with recycled products. The specialty of the solutions offered by energy saving companies lies in their customized formats. Professionals of these companies design the products as per the clients’ requirements.

Some of the leading energy saving companies that operate in the global market are listed below:

   1. Asian Electronics
   2. AsiaNet PE Systems Limited
   3. Caterlines
   4. Easun reyrolle Ltd
   5. Energetics
   6. Enervent Oy
   7. Firenix Technologies Pvt. Ltd
   8. Gazpro
   9. Micro-Ceramic Gmbh
10. New Horizon Technologies
11. Ontario Energy Savings L.P.
12. Kyung kee inc
13. Save-n-energy.com
14. Century sunshine technology co., limited,
15. Energy savings group
16. Edmonds pty ltd,
17. The myriad group
18. Eks hotel equipments co.ltd.
19. K-lite industries
20. Elektroplast as,
21. Nvision company limited
22. Energi works,
23. Energy saving company
24. Energy planning services inc,
25. Ahead innovations pte ltd
26. Fasten group imp.&exp. co., ltd.,
27. All sun shield window film
28. Firstwood technology pte ltd,
29. Antonio lopez garrido s.a.
30. Hua yue electronic factory,
31. Asia electric technologies
32. Hurricane supplies,
33. Autocell electronics, inc.,
34. Ihp international heating products ab,
35. Nanner commercial electrical appliance co., ltd.,
36. Inno synergy pte ltd,

Energy saving companies offers specialized solutions both for the individual and industrial clients. The complimentary Energy Audit service provided by these companies helps the clients to keep a check on their energy consumption. The solar power and wind power solutions are designed to ensure conformity with the sustainable energy policy. Energy saving companies also focus on internal carbon mitigation.

Doing Business

2011-01-14T21:30:00.001-08:00

Publication of doing business report has been accepted as a best indicator worldwide by rendering rankings among countries on the easiest and difficult places to do business. Useful and important case studies covered in the report truly reflect the business climate among various world countries.

The “Doing Business” as a report published by the World Bank has been regarded as an important tool for countries to analyze their business environment. Accordingly countries adopt the suitable policies and take part in the reform processes.

Comparatively high ranking in the doing business is meant that the Government has adopted business friendly practices in the country.

Most important part of the report is that, it gives a clear cut information upon time and cost involved in the process of setting up, running, and closing a business among 178 countries over the world.

    * Protecting Investors
    * Employing Workers
    * Closing A Business
    * Paying Taxes

Corporate Bonds

2011-01-14T21:29:00.003-08:00

Corporate bonds are longer-term debt instruments issued by companies to raise money for business expansion.These debt instruments usually have a maturity date of at least a year after issue. Corporate bonds with a shorter maturity are known as commercial papers.
How Do Corporate Bonds Deliver Yield?

Yield refers to the total amount from coupon payments as well as “built-in” appreciation in value. For instance, an investor may purchase a $100 corporate bond for $95, with an annual coupon payment of $10, or $5 biannually. The current yield would be 10.5% ($10 /$95). The investor would also profit from the built-in price appreciation of $5 by holding the bond to maturity and receiving the par value of $100. Some companies issue zero-coupon bonds, the current yield of which is zero, while the yield to maturity is only a function of the built-in appreciation in value.
Benefits of Corporate Bonds

Here are some benefits of corporate bonds:

    * Attractive yields: Corporations generally offer higher yields than government bonds of the same maturity.

    * Dependable income: Corporate bonds offer investors the opportunity of a steady income, while preserving the principal.

    * Safety: Credit rating agencies, like Standard & Poor's and Moody's, rate corporate bonds according to associated risk and rewards. Ratings reflect the capability of the issuing authority to deliver timely returns. The higher the rating, the safer the investment.

    * Diversity: An investor can choose from a variety of sectors and credit-quality characteristics.

    * Marketability: Most corporate bonds sell easily and quickly due to the market’s size and liquidity.

Drawbacks of Corporate Bonds

While corporate bonds offer a higher yield than some other investments, they are also accompanied by higher risks. These include:

    * Interest Rate Risk: Interest rate movements can significantly reduce the value of the bond.

    * Credit Risk: Corporate bonds are not secured by collateral. Thus an investor faces the risk of a corporation failing to meet the debt obligation.

    * Event Risk: Corporate bonds have exposure to event-based risks. Corporate reshuffles, takeovers or restructuring have far reaching consequences on the credit rating and price of such bonds.

    * Call Risk: Callable corporate bonds can be a nightmare when the issuer declares the purchase of bonds after a stipulated time period. Corporations usually call off a high-yielding bond when interest rates plummet. This gives the company a chance to reissue bonds at lower interest rates. In such cases, an investor receives only the par value of the bond.

Companies of the World

2011-01-14T21:29:00.001-08:00

There are several prominent lists and indices that cover the largest companies in the world. While they don’t include the largest private companies such as Saudi Aramco, they do reflect a shift in gravity from developed to emerging economies.

Elsewhere in Economy Watch we discuss the types of that exist today, and the effects of The opening up of world economies has allowed businesses to scale on a truly global level. These new multi-national corporations have become immense, and are often bigger than national economies.

A number of indices have been developed to list the largest companies and businesses in the world. These lists tend to be dominated by US companies, with a sizable contingent of European companies. However, in recent years we have seen the beginnings of a trend away from companies in the developed world and towards entities from the emerging markets that are growing at a faster pace.

It is important to note that these indices can only categorize publicly listed companies, and therefore may not be truly reflective of the world pecking order. Many authorities believe that the largest company in the world is actually Saudi Aramco, the company that controls the entire petrochemical industry in Saudi Arabia. However, since it is a private company that does not report its revenues, these claims cannot be verified.

Here are some of the major lists and indices of global companies:

Fortune Global 500
Each year Fortune Magazine calculates the size of the largest companies in the world, and publishes the Global 500 list of the largest, together with their company profiles.

Fortune Global Most Admired Companies
Fortune surveys executives at the top companies of the world, which it classifies as companies with market capitalization of over US $8 billion. It asks respondents to rate their peers on categories such as industry leadership, talent management and innovation, and publishes the results

Forbes 2000 Companies
This is an annual compendium of the biggest publicly-listed companies in the world, compiled by Forbes Magazine. The report was started in 2004, and in 2008 lists companies based in 60 different countries worldwide. Companies are ranked on a mix of metrics including market value, sales, assets and profits. The Forbes 2000 companies account for no less than US $30 trillion of sales and own US $119 trillion of assets worldwide!

S&P Global 1200
The S&P Global 1200 Index is an index of global stocks that are tracked by Standard & Poor’s. The index has components from 31 countries and is estimated to include approximately 70% of worldwide stock market equity. It is composed of six regional or continental indices:
S&P 500 Index (US)
S&P/TSX 60 Index (Canada)
S&P Latin America 40 Index (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile)
S&P/TOPIX 150 Index (Japan)
S&P Asia 50 Index (Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan)
S&P Europe 350 Index (Europe)

Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average consists of 30 of the largest publicly traded companies in the US, who are also among the largest worldwide. It was created by a former Wall Street Journal editor and founder of Dow Jones & Company, Charles Dow. It is also called the DJIA, the Dow 30 or the Dow Jones.

S&P 500
This stock market index contains a selected group of large-cap companies listed on both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. Most of the companies listed are American. The S&P 500 Index is a subset of the S&P Global 1200 Index

Russell 3000 Index
The Russell 3000 Index consists of the largest 3000 publicly-traded companies in the US, representing 98% of stock market equity in America.

Russell 2000 Index
The Russell 2000 Index is a subset of the Russell 3000 Index, and represents the smallest companies in the US - the top 1000 companies have been removed from the list. The Russell 2000 Index allows investors to track the small-cap market, and represents 10% of the equity value of the Russell 3000 Index.

ET 500 Companies
Dubbed the ‘Changing Face of India inc’, the Economic Times of India publishes the ET 500, the list of the largest companies in India.

Commodity Trading

2011-01-14T21:28:00.002-08:00

Commodity trading is a kind of financial trading in which primary products, such as food, metals and energy, are bought and sold. Trading in commodities is mostly undertaken on contracts that are based on such commodities.

Some commonly traded commodities include:

Agricultural products such as corn, wheat, soybeans, cocoa and oats

Energy products such as crude oil, ethanol, natural gas and uranium

Precious metals such as gold, platinum and silver

Industrial metals such as copper, lead, zinc and tin

Commodities trading is also called futures trading. When one trades futures, s/he does not actually buy or own anything. The contract is bought to speculate on the future direction of the price of the commodity.

How is Commodity Trading Done?

Commodity is traded at organized commodity exchanges. Most of the trading involves commodity futures. Here, the underlying asset of the futures is a particular commodity, such as gold, corn or wheat.

When such contracts are bought, the buyer of the futures contract gets the right to buy or sell the underlying commodity at a specified price at a specified future date. The buyer of the contract also pays a price to the seller for this right and this is called the premium.

Some famous commodity exchanges are the Chicago Climate Exchange, Hedge Street Exchange, CME Group, Central Japan Commodity Exchange, Dubai Mercantile Exchange, Tokyo Commodity Exchange and London Metal Exchange.

Broadly speaking, there are two different types of markets for commodity trading. Spot markets are where immediate trading takes place. This includes personal purchases (like when you buy jewelry with cash) as well as spot trading on a much larger scale (like trading in oil or large quantities of gold). The other market involves future trading. Here, a contract is traded, rather than the commodity itself.

Benefits of Commodity Trading

    * Commodity trading is much cheaper than stock trading, since the margins associated with the former are much lower.

    * The brokerage in commodity trading is extremely low.

    * Commodity trading is highly useful for speculators.

Risks of Commodity Trading

Commodity trading is highly risky and may result in huge net loss due to unfavorable market conditions. It is advisable for amateurs to first trade in stock futures before venturing into commodity trading.

Business Schools

2011-01-14T21:28:00.000-08:00

Adoption of opening norms by the countries of the world has given tremendous opportunities to be shared in the global brain bazaar. Both United States and the European union are the best stakeholders in the brain bazaar. They have their comparative advantage in the field of technology over the globe undoubtedly. But this may not be the sufficient condition for the present world where cost comparison is the driving force. This can be justified keeping in view following statistics by ANS.America's National Statistics shows that, cost of employing one chemist or engineer in USA is equivalent to 5 chemists in china and 11 engineers in India.

Presently both India and China produce more than a million engineering graduate students a year in comparison to 170,000 from US and Europe. Though in the field of manufacturing quantity of brains, the Asian Giants are front-runners but about the quality they are some how failed due to some structural rigidities.

As the market has become more knowledge based so the need of the hour is to manufacture accordingly.

Here in this section we are trying to provide the informations on the top manufacturers in the Global Brain Bazaar.

This section covers various business schools, international presence, courses offered, duration of the programme, facilities to the students and the location of the institute.

    * Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Norway
    * Nanyang Business School, Singapore
    * National University of Singapore Faculty of Business Administration, Singapore
    * Chung-Ang University College of Business Administration, South Korea
    * International Graduate School Of Management, Spain
    * University of St.Gallen, Institute of Management, Switzerland
    * London Business School, UK
    * Birkbeck College, University of London
    * Harvard Business School, US
    * Kelley School of Business, UK
    * Australian Graduate Schools of Management
    * Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MSGM)
    * Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology - Business
    * Sydney School of Finance and Economics (University of Technology)
    * Vienna University of Economics (Vienna)
    * Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School
    * School of Business Administration (Dalhousie University)
    * Simon Fraser University, Faculty of Business Administration
    * Copenhagen Business School (Denmark)
    * Estonian Business School (Estonia)
    * Swedish School of Economics and Business Information (Finland)
    * Paris Graduate School of Management (France)
    * Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (India)
    * Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business (Ireland)
    * Graduate School of International Management, International University of Japan
    * Netherlands Business School, Nijenrode University
    * Delhi School Of Economics (India)

Business process outsourcing

2011-01-14T21:27:00.003-08:00

In business process outsourcing (BPO), a specific business function is outsourced to a third party service provider. Earlier, manufacturing firms used to opt for business process outsourcing. But nowadays, service oriented firms contract operations of a business function to third party service providers.

Classification of BPO

BPO can be classified under two categories: back office outsourcing and front office outsourcing. Back office outsourcing involves business functions like billing and purchasing. Front office outsourcing includes functions like marketing and technology support.

Offshore and onshore

Onshore business process outsourcing is a term used when work is outsourced to a service provider located in the same country. Contrary to this we have offshore business process outsourcing where work is outsourced to a company located in a different country.

Size of BPO industry

According to McKinsey, global business process outsourcing industry is estimated to be worth about $122- $154 billion. Major business operations and functions outsourced to third party service providers include retail banking, insurance, finance, accounting and HR, and travel or hospitality.

Top BPO destinations

Top BPO destinations in the world include countries like India, Philippines, Morocco, Egypt, and South Africa. Business operations and functions are also outsourced to China and Eastern European countries. India accounts for about 5-6 percent of total BPO industry. But it holds a lion’s share (63%) as far as offshore division of BPO industry is concerned.

BPO industry in India

Offshore BPO earns about $10.9 billion of revenues for India. IT and total BPO revenue in India is predicted to cross $30 billion in 2008. India’s revenues from offshore BPO has dipped from 70 percent of total offshore work to about 63 percent.

Major BPO companies in India

Major BPO companies in India include Genpact, WNS Global Services, Transwork Information Services, IBM Daksh, and TCS BPO.

Challenges

BPO industry has to deal with various challenges in order to sustain its growth. Due to lack of talented and skilled manpower, BPO industry is always on the lookout for suitable candidate. This leads to high attrition levels within the industry. Other problems that plague BPO industry include reckless start-ups and poor infrastructure.