E-commerce

Citibank Sued Over Enron 'Deception'

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:30:00 +0000

The Bank of New York has filed a lawsuit accusing Citibank and its parent company of a "massive scheme of deception" designed to hide the failing finances of former energy giant Enron Corp. while making billions of dollars for itself.

The lawsuit, filed in New York state Supreme Court, does not specify how much the plaintiffs seek, but it states the investors want to at least recoup their investments, which would be as much as $2.4 billi

Citibank

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:29:00 +0000

Citibank has operations in more than 100 countries and territories around the world. More than half of its 1,400 offices are in the United States, mostly in the New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco/Silicon Valley, Boston, Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, Washington D.C., and Miami metropolitan areas.

In addition to the standard banking transactions, Citibank offers insurance, credit card and investment products. Their online services division is among the most successful in the field, claiming about 15 million users.

As a result of the Global financial crisis of 2008–2009 and huge losses in the value of its subprime mortgage assets, Citibank was rescued by the U.S. government under plans agreed for Citigroup. On November 23, 2008, in addition to initial aid of $25 billion, a further $25 billion was invested in the corporation together with guarantees for risky assets amounting to $306 billion.

Citibank Plans to Install ATMs at Blockbuster

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:28:00 +0000

NEW YORK — Citibank said Wednesday it will install as many as 3,000 automated teller machines in Blockbuster Video stores across the U.S. starting this quarter, expanding its ATM network to 39 states.

Citibank, the retail banking unit of Citicorp, doesn't plan to charge "access fees," or surcharges, at the ATMs, a spokesman said. The nation's 11th-largest bank, with $56 billion in assets, now has about 400 branches in nine states, including California, and the District of Columbia.

Citibank installed ATMs in Blockbuster stores in Peru and Colombia last fall and is expanding the program to Chile and Argentina.

Blockbuster said the deal is the first of several partnerships to provide new services. Blockbuster, a unit of Viacom Inc., has 6,000 video stores and 400 music stores in the U.S. and 26 other countries.

The agreement comes a week after Citibank said it would open "sales and information offices, essentially mini-branches an average of 500 square feet, inside eight Kinko's Inc. copy centers."

International Banking

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:22:00 +0000

Defining international banking for personal and business banking customers.

The term international banking covers a multitude of sins, from private banking to the range of foreign currency services required to run a business which trades in more than one country. All banks offer some international services, but certainly for private banking a specialist consultancy is usually recommended.

The term international banking now has an alarming number of meanings and uses.

To begin with, international banking often refers to the same suite of services as offshore banking. This means the investment and financial management solutions that are based in other countries, often countries with low or no taxation, to avoid Britain’s relatively high tax for high net worth individuals. In this respect, international banking is for quite rich people who want to pay less tax.

Equally, in primarily business but also occasionally for personal banking customers, many banks offer international banking services as covering the ways in which you can make transactions in foreign currencies. This includes international payment mechanisms, foreign currency accounts, travellers’ cheques and import/export advice. Despite being the 21st Century, international currency transactions can still vary wildly from bank to bank and currency to currency. In general, expect Euro, dollar and Swiss Franc transactions to be relatively simple; but go much further afield and you will enter a bureaucratic minefield!

Finally, returning to international banking as a plaything for better off customers, you will also occasionally find the term applied to foreign currency transactions as investments.

Internet Banking

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:20:00 +0000

Internet banking can save you time and travelling, but there’s a wide choice.

In the past five years, every high street bank has begun to offer internet banking, and plenty more internet-only banks have sprung up. Sometimes they just offer convenience, but some can give you deals you won’t find in branches.

Internet banking refers confusingly to two different experiences. The first is a new type of bank only found online. Big internet banking names are IF, Smile, the One Account and Cahoot. These offer a selection of banking services, usually not as broad as a high street bank, but also offer innovative products which use technology to cut costs or add convenience to you the customer. For example, one feature of many internet banking outfits is offsetting- using the interest from savings in one account to offset borrowing on another account.

Many of these internet banks have been bought by ordinary banks anyway- for example IF is owned by the Halifax.

The second type of internet banking is online banking offered by most ordinary high street banks as part of their service. It’s highly unlikely that you picked your bank because of its internet banking facilities, but you should ask about their internet security and also how far back you can check statements online, for example. The Co-operative has particularly good security and a very flexible system for managing your account. Repeat statements usually cost up to £10, so signing up for internet banking can save you money- and don’t forget by reducing traffic in branches, you’re saving them money too. Look for internet-only offers (even from high street banks)- often you’ll be offered rates online that aren’t publicised elsewhere.

Bank Loan

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:20:00 +0000

Where to go to get a fair deal on a bank loan

A bank loan is now available from an increasingly broad range of lenders, but the interest rates vary wildly too. To get a good rate, you need to think about what the loan is for, what your credit record is like, and whether you need extras like repayment insurance.

A bank loan is an amount of money agreed with the bank that you borrow, and repay with interest across an agreed term. Usually, you’ll pay equal monthly instalments- part of which is the loan amount, and part of which is interest. So you will pay back more than you originally borrowed. Personal loans are usually economical up to 5 years- (although many banks will lend across up to 7 years). Thereafter consider a home loan if you have equity in your house. Before getting a bank loan consider carefully whether you need to borrow, and what it’s for. Debt consolidation, for example, can cost dearly- so be sure to get the best rate.

You can get a bank loan from plenty of places- not just banks. Supermarkets like Tesco and Sainsbury’s have banking arms which will lend to you. Consider also internet banks like Cahoot, Smile or First Direct. Finally, if you’re in credit difficulties, there are specialist lenders like Purple Loans who can also help.

Note that the interest rate you pay on your bank loan will not necessarily be the one you see quoted in literature. Usually the rate is based on your creditworthiness, which will be ascertained partly on your credit history (this is known to most financial organisations) and partly on the information you give on your application form. If you’re deemed to have good credit, you’ll get a lower interest rate than a bad debtor. If you’re refused credit, the bank won’t have to tell you why; but you do have the right to see your credit record, which is held at credit reference agencies like Experian. It usually costs £2, and if your record is wrong, you can have it changed free of charge

UK Bank

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:20:00 +0000

f you’re looking for a new bank account, you’re already making a wise choice by bothering to hunt for deals in the first place.

After much consolidation in the past 20 years, the UK bank and financial services industry is as lean as it can be, and despite market jitters, is performing well globally. You have a fine choice of banks and banking products at your disposal, so shop around, compare deals, and don’t be afraid of the jargon.

The British Banker’s Association, the trade body (not a regulatory body) for the UK bank and retail financial services sector, says that over one million transactions pass through UK bank systems every day. The UK remains the centre of the world’s international banking industry, accounting for over 21% of global transactions. As such it will be of no surprise that the top 8 British banks also perform within the top 30 banks worldwide. That means you’re both in very safe and secure hands, but also subject to global economic movement and sometimes the banks are the last to embrace new technology.

We’re also borrowing more than ever (which worries the new Bank of England governor, Mervyn King) with mortgage lending by UK bank and building society lenders up by a record £78 billion).

So if you’re looking for a bank account, expect a fiscally sound service, but not exceptional customer service (although many online banks are changing that!) and go with a bank which will cut you some slack when you need to borrow money: it seems that we all need to these days! And don’t feel you need to stick with the same bank year after year, or indeed that you need to use the same bank for all your financial services. You wouldn’t get garden furniture from the same shop as you buy your groceries, and the same applies to money

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:19:00 +0000

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), specialized agency of the United Nations, with headquarters at Washington, D.C.; also called the World Bank. Plans were laid at the Bretton Woods Conference (1944) for the formation of a world bank; it was formally organized in 1945, when 28 countries ratified the agreement; there are now 185 members. The bank not only makes loans to member nations, but, under government guarantee, to private investors, for the purpose of facilitating productive investment, encouraging foreign trade, and discharging burdens of international debt. All members of the bank must also belong to the International Monetary Fund . The bank is self-sustaining and has maintained a profit on its lending activities. It is controlled by a board of governors, one from each member state. Votes are allocated according to capital subscription. Ordinary affairs are conducted by 22 executive directors, five appointed by the five largest capital subscribers, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, and the United States, and 17 elected by the remaining members. Regional vice presidents oversee the bank's operations in five regions: Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, East Africa, West Africa, and (in one grouping) Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

The bank also operates the Economic Development Institute, which offers training in economic development for officials of member countries. Closely affiliated with the bank is the International Finance Corporation (est. 1956), which invests in private enterprises without government guarantee. The bank organized the International Development Association (1960) to extend credit on easier terms, mainly to developing countries. The group of institutions is known as the World Bank Group. Criticism that the IBRD-financed projects were environmentally destructive led the bank to establish an environmental fund (1990) providing low-interest loans for developing countries. Developing nations have complained that the IBRD imposes the free-market system on them, thereby discouraging planning, nationalization, and public investment.

Google Analytics "Inaccurate," Expert Says

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:17:00 +0000

Many ecommerce merchants use Google Analytics to track visitor activity on their websites. But there are other analytics firms, too, that offer services to merchants. One of them is ClickTale, an Israel-based firm with over 35,000 clients, according to its co-founder.

That co-founder is Tal Schwartz, who is both an academic and an entrepreneur. He launched ClickTale in 2006 when he was teaching entrepreneurship at a university in Israel. He says ClickTale is now “the industry leader in customer experience analytics, providing businesses with revolutionary insights into their customers’ online behavior.”

ClickTale is hosted service, with monthly prices ranging from $0 to $790. Schwartz is both a fan of Google Analytics and a critic. He claims that Google Analytics is wrong in how it computes the time visitors spend on a site, and that the error can affect ecommerce merchants. We asked him about that.

PeC: You recently wrote about an error in Google Analytics. What is it?

Schwartz: First, I should clarify that we ourselves use Google Analytics, and are big fans. However, it has several major limitations that its users should be aware of. The limitation is based on Google Analytics’ method for calculating “Time on Page” and “Time on Site.” Google Analytics calculates these values as follows:

It records when a visitor opens the first page.
It records when a visitor opens the next page.
It subtracts these two times and calls the result “Time on Page”
It adds up all the “Times on Page” to create “Time on Site”

Time-on-page graphic. Supplied by ClickTale.

However, this is inaccurate. For example:

If the visitor doesn’t move through your site (a bounced visitor), Google Analytics can’t record a second page being opened. It therefore has no way of knowing how much time a bounced visitor spent on your website.
We’ve seen that visitors will often change tabs, minimize their browser or walk away from their desk while browsing, and then come back to the website later. These are all normal browsing habits, but as Google Analytics only captures when visitors move from one page to the next. “Time on Page” tells you nothing about how these visitors interact with your website.
Google Analytics also cannot tell you how long visitors spent on the exit page, or more importantly, why they left. Did they finish their transaction and leave after a few seconds, or were they trying to fill out an online form for several minutes before leaving in frustration?

PeC: Why does that error matter for ecommerce merchants?

Schwartz: It’s a big problem for ecommerce merchants for two reasons:

First, many of the visitors to an ecommerce site are bounced visitors. These are the potential customers they [the merchants] didn’t get. They are the lost sales, lost leads and lost profits, and Google Analytics cannot tell you anything about them. The “Time on Page” provided by Google only refers to multiple-page visitors, but Google does not mention this anywhere.

Graphic illustrating bounced visitors. Supplied by ClickTale.

Second, Google Analytics gives you no information about how long your visitors actually interact with the content on your website. All it can see is the amount of time a page was left open, which doesn’t tell you anything about how long your visitors were actually looking at your site or doing something meaningful like choosing a product to purchase or trying to complete an online form.

PeC: You own an analytics company, ClickTale.com. Why should a smaller ecommerce merchant pay for analytics, when Google Analytics is free?

Schwartz: First of all, ClickTale is available for free as well. Google Analytics is great for monitoring your website page views and traffic sources. It tells you where your visitors come from, which pages they visit, and where they go. But it doesn’t tell you about what’s happening inside your web pages and what the visitors actually do on the site. ClickTale provides valuable insight as to what’s going on inside your web pages. So if you’re serious about improving your conversion, you need to figure out exactly how customers use your website.

Also, Google only records a timestamp of the page loaded, as well as basic visitor information such as the IP address. ClickTale records every mouse move, click, scroll, hover and keystroke. So while Google stores very little information per visitor, we store full, playable videos of each visitor’s complete browsing experience.

PeC: How does this help an ecommerce merchant?

Tal Schwartz

Schwartz: We show businesses what customers really do when they browse their websites. Our customers use our analytics tools to figure out the “why” behind the “what,” and this helps them optimize website performance, improve usability and dramatically increase conversion rates. Since we are a hosted service, setup takes just a few minutes, and our subscribers can start watching their users’ complete browsing sessions right away. For example, you might have a purchase process on your website that takes three pages to complete. Google Analytics tells you that your customers keep leaving on page two, but you might have no idea what is causing them to leave. With ClickTale, you can see exactly what the problem is straight away, and spend more time focusing on how to fix it.

We provide several unique features throughout all our plans:

Full Movie Playback. Watch movies of your customers’ browsing sessions.
Powerful Filtering. Define scenarios and then watch visitors who match these scenarios (visitors who abandon your checkout page or failed to complete your online form, for example).
Powerful Visual Heatmaps. Aggregated information of your visitors’ clicks and scrolling behaviors.
Form Analytics. See exactly where your visitors get stuck inside your online form, how long it takes to complete the form, which fields they leave blank and where they experience errors.
Link Analytics. Show how visitors interact with links, where they hover and for how long.
Campaign Tracking. See how visitors who come from your marketing campaigns behave.

PeC: Proponents of Google Analytics say that it tracks pay-per-click ads in Google well and that other analytics providers do not. Is this true?

Schwartz: Google created the AdWords pay-per-click service, and it definitely does a good job at tracking click-throughs and conversions. But Google can only tell you how many people came to your site from each ad campaign and whether they converted, not what they did on your site when they got there.

PeC: Got it. To wrap up, should an ecommerce merchant use Google Analytics?

Schwartz: Yes. We recommend that ecommerce merchants use Google Analytics in conjunction with ClickTale. Google Analytics provides important quantitative data about a merchant's traffic, while ClickTale provides qualitative data and powerful drill-down capabilities that enable merchants to figure out exactly what users are doing inside their webpages.

Yahoo! Reports Third Quarter Earnings, Proclaims "Economy Starting to Loosen Up"

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:16:00 +0000

Yahoo! Inc. reported third quarter earnings yesterday that beat Wall Street expectations but didn’t put to rest lingering questions about the health of the display advertising market, which generates a large portion of Yahoo!’s revenue.

Reliance on Display Ads

Yahoo! reported revenue of roughly $1.5 billion for the quarter-end Sept. 30 and net income for that quarter of roughly $186 million. This included a one-time profit of roughly $98 million from the sale of Yahoo!’s investment in Alibaba, the Chinese web portal. Total quarter-end revenues and profits were down from the same quarter in 2008, but expected by observers due to Yahoo!’s reliance on branded display advertising, which has been soft during the current recession. This is in contrast Google’s revenue, which comes almost exclusively from pay-per-click text ads.

Approximately $1.4 billion of Yahoo!'s total revenue for the quarter, or 93 percent of the total, came from what Yahoo! calls “Marketing Services.” This is largely banner ad income on Yahoo!-owned sites and on sites of third-party affiliates that Yahoo! represents.

Fee Income Includes Hosted eCommerce Platform

Just $198 million of Yahoo!’s revenue came from the “Fee” category, which includes premium email offerings, personals, and services to small businesses. These small-business services presumably include Yahoo! Merchant Solutions, the hosted ecommerce platform that is used by roughly 50,000 smaller ecommerce merchants. Yahoo!’s platform is the largest hosted ecommerce solution and it’s that platform that Yahoo! is reportedly looking to sell, according to Reuters. All told, Yahoo! reported on June 30, 2009 that 8.6 million customers pay for its fee-based services.

Under new CEO Carol Bartz, Yahoo! has been cutting costs and shedding portions of its business. On June 29, 2009 Yahoo! entered into an agreement with Microsoft to use the latter’s new Bing search technology for its search engine. Under the pending agreement, which is awaiting U.S. regulatory approval, Microsoft will also sell pay-per-click search ads for Yahoo! The agreement does not include the serving and selling of Yahoo’s banner display ads.

During the conference call yesterday, Yahoo’s chief financial officer expressed guarded optimization on the rebound of display ads. This feels like stabilization,” said CFO Tim Morse who went on to add, “The economy is starting to loosen up.” Morse briefly addressed the pending search agreement with Microsoft, saying he was optimistic the deal would meet with regulatory approval and be closed in early 2010.

Stock Price Near 52-week High

The price of Yahoo!’s common stock closed yesterday at roughly $17 per share, which is close to a 52 week high. During that period, the price has fluctuated between $9 and $18 per share. Yahoo!’s market capitalization (the price of the common shares times the number outstanding) is approximately $25 billion. Google’s market cap, by comparison, is roughly $174 billion and InterActiveCorp, the owner of Ask.com and various content sites, has a current maket cap of $2.5 billion. On Sept. 30, Yahoo! held $1.9 billion of cash and investments with, essentially, no debt.

Pay-per-click Advertising: Seven Pointers for Smaller Campaigns

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:12:00 +0000

Managing small-budget pay-per-click campaigns (under $3,000 per month) is typically more difficult than managing campaigns with higher spend levels. Lack of “workable” data in smaller accounts often pushes campaign managers to make decisions based on incomplete or inaccurate information. Below is a checklist of seven items you can do today to improve performance of your smaller PPC campaign.

1. Use Negative Keywords to Block Irrelevant Traffic

Negative keywords allow you to filter out irrelevant traffic. There is no reason to pay for clicks that were generated by search queries such as “(your product) defect”, “(your product) manual”, “broken (your product)”, and so forth. Read "Negative Keywords for Your PPC Campaign" to help understand this.

2. Research Long-tail Keywords

Clicks generated from keywords reflecting purchase intent are more likely to turn into actual buyers. Examples of such keywords include “buy widget” and “get widgets” Some useful tools to research keywords are listed at "Keyword Research Tools".

3. Separate Search Network from Content Network

Google, Yahoo! and Bing, the primary search engines, offer both search distribution and content distribution. Traffic generated via the content channel is inherently different quality from that of search. More information about developing a solid content strategy is found at "Advertising On The Google Content Network".

4. Split Keywords into Tightly Organized Ad Groups

Make sure your keywords are organized in the most logical order. For example, keywords describing one product should not be mixed with keywords describing other products. Imagine that you’re retailer selling socks and wine. It would be illogical to place both keywords (“socks” and “wine”) into the same Ad Group. The same rule applies to less obvious examples. “Green widget” and “blue widget cover” should be placed in separate Ad Groups, for example.

5. Include Different Match Types

"Match types" allow you to improve the quality of the traffic by more closely matching users' search queries with your keyword choices. Additionally, having all three match types (Broad match, Phrase match, Exact match) in Google and MSN might help you get more clicks for the same overall price due to the quality score discount (which occurs due to ads being ordered based on multiple relevancy factors and not solely on the per-click bid price). In Yahoo!, running multiple match types simultaneously is not permitted. Nevertheless, it's a good idea to see if "standard match" would generate better return on investment than "advanced match."

6. Re-configure Campaigns/Account Settings

Here is a list of standard settings that will typically optimize a smaller budget campaign.

Google (Campaign Level):

Targeting: United States only
Language: English
Network & Devices: Google Search; Desktop and laptop computers
Bidding: Manual bidding – Max CPC
Position preference: Off
Delivery method: Standard
Ad rotation: Optimize

Yahoo! (Account Level):

Sponsored Search: On
Content Match: Off
Match Type: Advanced
Blocked Continents: Check off all
Campaign Level Targeting: Block 0-18, Select U.S. only

Bing (Campaign Level):

Tracking conversions: Checked
Target by Location: United States

7. Use Free Pay-per-click Tools

Use free pay-per-click tools to work on your campaigns. Don’t waste time going through slow account interfaces. Use these account tools to help you navigate through Google and MSN:

Barclays Set To Offer Forex Trading Services To UAE Clients

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:58:00 +0000

Barclays International Bank is set to introduce a new service for its customers in the United Arab Emirates that will allow them to invest in the foreign exchange markets.

According to David Inglesfield, Head of Barclays International Premier in the UAE, foreign exchange is gaining favour as an asset class, and is a potentially good source of investment returns.

"Structuring techniques allow clients to take specific FX exposure in ways which tailor the risk and return profile to their needs, whether to seek better returns or to hedge underlying exposure," Mr Inglesfield said, according to Strategiy.com.

Barclays is today hosting a seminar to inform its clients in the merits of investing in the forex markets. The seminar will be led by two of Barclays’ leading industry specialists – Philippos Kassimatis, Director and Head of FX-Linked Structured Products at Barclays Capital in London, and Karen Aubouy, Global Head of Structured products at Barclays Private Bank in Geneva.

“This seminar presents a great opportunity for us to interact, share information and get feed back directly from our clients," Mr Inglesfield observed.

Barclays International Banking opened its UAE office in 2004 after a survey revealed strong demand for wealth management services from the country's residents.

The Barclays International Premier service provides clients with facilities normally only offered by private banks and is available to clients with a minimum of US$200,000 to invest. Client accounts are held in Geneva, Switzerland, which still applies strict banking secrecy laws.

Barclays International

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:48:00 +0000

The new office will be opened by its offshore wealth management arm, Barclays International, and will offer UAE investors with US$200,000 or more to invest a comprehensive banking and investment advisory service.

The office opening is part of Barclays strategic expansion into key international markets, of which the UAE has been identified as a crucial growth area. It follows Barclays International's expansion into a similarly bustling business centre, Hong Kong, earlier this year.

Barclays International Premier is the first personal investment unit in Dubai to provide a selection of sophisticated products and services to clients with a minimum of US$200,000 to invest - this service is normally reserved for private bank clients.

Clients will be able to benefit from the security of Barclays, the tenth largest bank in the world by market capitalisation, with assets under management of nearly £700 billion and a reputation built over 300 years.

Adrian Crichton, Director of Barclays International Personal and Premier explained, 'Launching this new service ties in with the Barclays Group strategy to increase the proportion of income that it generates from operations outside of the UK and to grow its global wealth business. Dubai was identified as an ideal market to launch this service as it is a growing city, which is home to an ever-increasing number of sophisticated business people who want the best money management they can access.'

The bank also unveiled consumer qualitative research, which highlights low levels of customer satisfaction with wealth management banking.

David Inglesfield, Head of Barclays International Premier in the UAE commented, 'The UAE is widely recognized as one of the key financial centers in the world. With the amount of capital that is based here and the level of investment that is occurring in so many different sectors, it made sense to us to establish a firm base here.

'The data we uncovered from our recent survey into people's wealth management needs revealed what people in the UAE want from a wealth management organization. We have used these market insights to help us formulate the new dedicated, UAE-based offshore banking service - Barclays International Premier, which we have launched here today,' said Mr Inglesfield.

The service offered to those who bring their business to Barclays International Premier is designed to be differentiated from others already available in the market and will benefit from relationship managers on the ground in the UAE with their accounts booked in Geneva through Barclays Bank (Suisse) S.A., which has a market leading operations system.

David Inglesfield explained, 'Clients in the UAE will benefit from the highest possible standards of personal service and local insight from a team of professionally qualified relationship managers based in Dubai, who in turn have access to a wealth of knowledge from Geneva based product experts.'

'Other advantages of the new service include access to more competitive deposit rates, and professional advice on a very wide range of longer terms savings and investment strategies, using the world's best products and providers - the service is not limited to Barclays own product range.'

Barclays provides banking services to more than one million affluent and high net worth clients around the globe and now operates four businesses in the UAE - Barclays UAE for Business Banking and in 2005 will provide Retail Banking, Barclays Capital for Investment Banking, Barclays Private Bank and Barclays International.

PURCHASE AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:16:00 +0000

This masters level purchasing degree course is fully accredited by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS)

This course is suitable for those wishing to pursue a Supply Chain Degree, Purchasing Degree or Procurement Degree. The Purchasing and Supply Chain degree comprises the range of management subjects suitable for a Masters level qualification in purchasing and supply chain management and is designed for professional practice at middle management and higher levels of management in this specialism.

As a well-established part of Aberdeen Business School's portfolio of courses, the postgraduate diploma and masters in Purchasing and Supply Chain Management degree is regularly updated to reflect current management thinking and practice.

This purchasing and supply chain degree course is suitable if you intend entering the profession of purchasing and supply chain management or if you are a manager wishing to study this specialist area of management - you may have a working knowledge of purchasing and supply chain management but have no formal qualification in this area.

The supply chain course centres on management practice and takes a more specialist focus than the MBA. You will study the following modules:

Business Environment
Finance for Managers
Operations Management
Managing People
Purchasing Principles and Law
Supply Chain Management
Strategic Purchasing (Strategic Procurement)

Read more about the modules, structure and what is involved in the Purchasing and Supply Chain Degree

Benefits of the Purchasing and Supply Chain Degree Course

This masters course in Purchasing and Supply Chain Management will develop your knowledge and understanding, business/management practice (applied knowledge and understanding) and management skills in purchasing and supply chain management suitable for professional practice at middle management and higher levels of management.

The supply chain course is available in a range of Flexible Study Modes so you can study Full Time (3 semesters study in ONE academic year); Part Time (part time day and evening) study over 2 years for taught stage and one further year for dissertation stage; or Online Learning (part time). It is possible to transfer from one study mode to another should circumstances change.

Flexible Exit and Change Points

Following completion of 4 modules, learners may exit with Postgraduate Certificate in Management Studies. At this point it is also possible to transfer to certain other specialist Postgraduate Diplomas or masters courses within the Graduate Management Studies Programme. On completion of the taught stage of the course it is possible to exit with a Postgraduate Diploma Purchasing & Supply Chain Management Degree .

Specialist Focus of the Purchasing and Supply Chain Degree

This purchasing course enables the student to focus on a specialised and strategically important aspect of business. The course will explore a wide range of analytical theories and models and encourage the application of these to contemporary organisational situations. If the theory provides the platform for analysis, it is the interaction with fellow students and teaching staff that often encourages creativity in the application of knowledge to the process of strategy formulation.

Purchasing and Supply Chain Management Development

This course is a management development programme in purchasing and supply chain management and comprises the range of subjects suitable for:

recent graduates of any discipline who wish to pursue postgraduate studies in preparation for a career in purchasing and supply management
purchasing and supply chain specialists who wish to develop their professional practice and require a qualification to support practical experience
managers of other related disciplines who wish to progress into a career in purchasing and supply chain management
practitioners who have graduated through the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Programme and wish to further their studies at a strategic level, suitable for those aspiring to more senior management positions

Funding

Each year a range of Scholarships and Funding are available. For 2008/2009 the university has secured funding from The Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) for a range of postgraduate courses, including this course. You may be eligible to apply for this funding and also be eligible for an income-assessed maintenance grant. If you have children, child care grants are also available.

For more information on elibility you should contact the Admissions Office by email on: PostgraduateAdmissions@rgu.ac.uk

Information on funding and course fees can be found under: Tuition Fees

Career Opportunities with a Purchasing Degree or a Supply Chain Degree

The course has been most successful in providing graduates of various disciplines with an entry to careers in this specialist area of management.

Professional Career Advancement
Students holding a Diploma / MSc in Purchasing and Supply Chain Management will have demonstrable evidence of having studied in this specialist area at a strategic level - rapidly becoming a prerequisite for advancement to more senior positions in management.

THe University supports career development and offers online and offline advice and services through the university Careers Advisory Service.

Testimonials from our Purchasing and Supply Chain Management Graduates

Stuart McCartney graduated with Masters Purchasing and Supply Chain Management and speaks of how the course helped him in his career:

"I would like to stress the benefit that the qualification has given me not only in terms of employment opportunity but the benefit its content has given me in performing the function in reality".

Read Stuart's full Testimonial

Another Masters level graduate, Roddy Junor, said the course was...

"...one of the most personally rewarding experiences in my life to date has been the participation in the Purchasing and Supply Chain Management course run at the Aberdeen Business School. The route I chose was through the Diploma stages then Post Graduate culminating in my attaining an MSc.
This achievement was something I had never even dreamed possible when I started. My success can be attributed to the close links developed with many of my fellow students and lecturers and also the facilities and staff at the RGU which went a long way towards aiding me in my adventure."

Read Roddy's full Testimonial

Typical Student Profile on the Purchasing and Supply Chain Management Degree

A degree/honours degree or degree equivalent or
Qualifications of an approved Professional Body or Institution or
Relevant industrial, commercial or professional experience at a level sufficient to justify exemptions from the normal requirements

If you do not meet these requirements and are a non-graduate with experience in business/management insufficient to justify exemption, you may wish to consider access to the course via the Access Foundation in Management Studies.

Access Foundation in Management Studies

Course Enquiries and Contact:

Dr Rosalind Rae
Course Leader for the Purchasing and Supply Chain Management Degree
The Robert Gordon University
Aberdeen Business School
Garthdee Road
Aberdeen AB10 7QE
Tel: +44 (0)1224 263858
Fax: +44 (0)1224 263838
E:mail: r.rae@rgu.ac.uk

Register your Interest

The following form is for ALL Home/EU enquirers AND those International enquirers interested in NON Full Time study by distance learning:

Register Interest - ALL Home/EU AND (Non Full Time) International

International enquirers interested in studying Full Time (on campus) should use the International Full Time form:

Register Interest - International (Full Time)

Please note: These are NOT application forms. When you complete the relevant form you will be kept up-to-date with course details and documentation.

If you do want to apply please go to: Apply for a course

GRAINGER CENTER FOR SUPPLY CHAIN AND MANAGEMENT

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:12:00 +0000

A specialization in supply chain management is available to all undergraduate students enrolled in the School of Business. Students can add this specialization to their current business major. To complete the supply chain management specialization, students take six required courses and one of three electives. Students learn to think about the supply chain in an integrated business framework both in and out of the classroom from our faculty and applied learning program.

Download the application

Required Courses

Fundamentals of Supply Chain Management
MKT/OTM 421 Fundamentals of Supply Chain Management is the foundational course in the specialization curriculum. The course provides students with an understanding of the linkage of key business functions and how effective supply chain management can improve performance and provide competitive advantage. Learning activities are a combination of lecture, case studies, and guest speakers from multiple industries. The course also includes a web-based simulation project, where student teams compete in managing a high-tech company’s supply chain.
Procurement and Supply Management
Production Planning and Control
Marketing Channels
Logistics Management
Supply Chain Business Process Strategies

Electives

Marketing Research
Retail Management
Operations Research I

Jobs and Earnings

Students who are enrolled in the supply chain management specialization consistently earn higher salaries in their internships and full-time employment than students who are not in the specialization. The average full-time salary offered to the class of 2008 was over $48,000. Some of the companies that offered students full-time and internship opportunities include:

AT&T
Best Buy Company
Discover Financial Services
Ford Motor Company
General Mills
Harley-Davidson Motor Company
Intuit
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Kohler Company
Kohl’s Department Stores
Kraft Foods Oscar Mayer
Lowes
Macy's
Miller Brewing Company
Nestle USA
Procter & Gamble
Sears Holding Corporation
Target Corporation

Personalized Experience with a Close-knit, Fun Community

The Grainger Center provides each student with personalized career advising. Students are connected—directly and personally—with an extensive network of industry executives, alumni, corporate partners, and faculty. Students in the supply chain management specialization have the unique opportunity to receive guidance from this network throughout the program.

Scholarship Opportunities

A number of scholarships are available to students in the supply chain management specialization.

During her junior year, Lindsay Olthafer (BBA December 2007) received the 2007 R. Gene Richter Scholarship. This prestigious national award is affiliated with the Institute for Supply Management and is given to a very select group of students each year. Lindsay received $5,000; an invitation to the 2007 ISM Annual International Conference in Las Vegas; and a senior-level executive mentor for her senior year (Greg Shoemaker, chief procurement officer with Hewlett-Packard). Gene Richter was a legendary executive who helped transform IBM's supply chain and founded IBM's supply chain leadership development program.

Network with Industry Leaders

In addition to its extensive employer network, an Executive Advisory Board links the Center to industry, keeping the program at the forefront of business knowledge. Each year, three students are chosen to represent the supply chain specialization at the annual Executive Advisory Board meeting. Students make short, formal presentations to the board and have the opportunity to network with high-level supply chain leaders. Some of the companies represented on the board include BASF, Cisco, Genzyme, W. W. Grainger, Inc., Harley-Davidson Motor Company, IBM, Johnson Controls, Motorola, and Procter & Gamble.

The Center encourages interested students to talk with Director Verda Blythe about the requirements for adding a supply chain management specialization to their major. Call Verda at 608.262.1941 or email her at vblythe@bus.wisc.edu

Infringement Of Uk Trade Marks By Foreign Domain Names

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Wed, 06 May 2009 21:27:00 +0000

When selecting a domain name in the UK, it is primarily registered trade mark rights that dictate whether or not the domain name is available for use in trade and commerce, regardless of whether the domain name is available for registration. Whether or not the use of the domain name infringes a UK trade mark trade mark is another matter.

Suppose the same trade mark is owned and used by independent companies in the United States and the United Kingdom. The United States company might have a website, for example easyfashion.com, which may feature the trade mark “easy fashion”. Does the appearance of the trade mark on the United States site infringe the trade mark registered in the United Kingdom?

Given the world wide accessibility of internet sites and the inevitability that, to return to the above example, the United States website will be viewed by internet users in the United Kingdom, courts have had to consider the question of whether the use of a trade mark on a foreign website infringes the trade mark registered in the United Kingdom.

The starting point for United Kingdom courts is the proposition that infringement in the United Kingdom requires the use of the sign in the course of trade in relation to goods or services in the United Kingdom.

Whether or not a foreign website uses a sign in the course of trade in the United Kingdom is a question of fact that a court must determine having regard to all the circumstances.

In the case of 1-800 Flowers Inc v Phonenames Ltd [2002] FSR 12 CA, Buxton LJ rejected the notion that simply placing a mark on a foreign website without more would constitute use in the course of trade in the United Kingdom.

Lord Justice Buxton, in reasoning that something more was required to constitute the requisite use, said:

"the very idea of “use” within a certain area would seem to require some active step in that area on the part of the user that goes beyond providing facilities that enable others to bring the mark into the area. Of course, if persons in the United Kingdom seek the mark on the Internet in response to direct encouragement or advertisement by the owner, the position may be different; but in such case the advertisement or encouragement in itself is likely to suffice to establish the necessary use"

An “active step” which goes beyond the mere placing of a mark on a website and which would result in a finding of use in the course of trade in the United Kingdom would include solicitation of customers and orders in the United Kingdom by the foreign website.

Courts will also look at whether the foreign website has an established trade and customer base in the United Kingdom. Whether or not a foreign website does have a United Kingdom customer base will not of itself determine the issue, but is certainly a relevant factor a court will consider in making its judgment.

Ultimately, the appearance of a mark on a foreign website will only be considered as use in the course of trade in the United Kingdom if, objectively speaking, the website aims at customers in the United Kingdom. Factors to be considered by courts when deciding this issue include whether there is any active solicitation of United Kingdom customers, the extent of the website’s customer base and trade in the United Kingdom and whether any disclaimers or statements exist on the foreign website which prevent sales in the United Kingdom.

How Internet Marketing Can Get You In Hot Water

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Wed, 06 May 2009 21:23:00 +0000

Many business of all sizes experiment with various different types of weird and wonderful advertising stunts rather than adopting an old fashioned, straight forward approach such as brochures or mailing catalogues and flyers.

Since the inception of the world wide web in the 90’s there has been an explosive growth in the area of internet marketing. This growth can be attributed to the fact that the internet gives businesses the potential to reach many more prospective customers than could be accomplished through traditional means of advertising for a lot less money. Sounds irresistible, doesn’t it?

However many businesses are unaware of the regulations contained within the new “Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008”. These consumer protection regulations have an impact on what is called “buzz marketing” and also marketing via social networking web sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

A reputable intellectual property law solicitor should be able to advise you on all the rules and regulations in this area and make sure your business is not falling foul of them.

The regulations introduce a new criminal offence which is described as:

Falsely claiming or creating the impression that the trader is not acting for purposes relating to his trade, business, craft or profession or falsely representing oneself as a consumer" (sched 1 para 22).

This has huge, wide reaching implications for the advertising and internet marketing industry as some cutting edge advertising methods work on the basis that individuals online are engaged to recommend a product to their friends or a group of individuals or to even go to the lengths of sitting in a bar, restaurant or other public place and talk loudly about the virtues of a particular product or service.

These new regulations have wide ranging implications for the blogging community as planting a comment in a blog without making clear that the message has been placed by or on behalf of the business could be a criminal offence.

Sites that rank highly in search engines such as Google, Yahoo or MSN are usually in an elevated position because many other websites link to them. A link is a clickable piece of text that takes web browsers from the site they are on to another website. Internet marketers promoting a business can build links to their client by leaving comments on blogs that link back to their client’s site. If they do this without making it clear that they are working on behalf of another business they could be in serious trouble.

In addition, anyone seeding viral advertisements online in a way that implies they are just a member of the public could also infringe that prohibition. Another area where businesses often fall foul of the law is where they use photographs in brochures, on websites and online without permission from the copyright owner.

It always pays to check difficult legal issues with lawyers before an expensive marketing campaign is launched and also to ensure there are written contracts with advertising agencies which makes clear whether the agency or customer are responsible for legal compliance.

Cyberlaw of Japan: promoting e-commerce security, increasing personal information confidentiality, and controlling computer access.

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Wed, 06 May 2009 21:17:00 +0000

Japan's phoenix-like emergence from ultimate defeat in World War II to world economic superpower by the 1980s is an almost inexplicable phenomenon. Factors accounting for that achievement include the strong work ethic of the Japanese people, the close association of manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors in groups known as the keiretsu, and lifetime employment provided to many urban workers. After three decades of unprecedented economic growth, Japan's economy experienced a deflationary slowdown during the 1990s, an erosion of the influence of the keiretsu, and diminished permanent employment. That lost decade is already fading from memory. Japan is now in the process of reclaiming her past economic glory with an economy and a stock market that is booming. Japan's technological prowess is only surpassed by the United States, and her gross domestic product (GDP) ranks third in the world behind the United States and China. (1) Not bad for a nation with no domestic petroleum, few natural resources, only 128 million people, and a land area about the size of California. (2)

Japan is the third-largest e-commerce market in the world; only the United States and Western Europe are larger. (3) Japan has 73 Intemet service providers, almost 13 million internet hosts, and about half of the population regularly use the Internet. (4) The e-commerce market has received a boost from the growth of high-speed broadband connections. Additionally, the computer law of Japan, the primary focus of this article, has facilitated the attainment of more security in e-commerce transactions and has made Japanese consumers more willing to participate in e-commerce.

ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES, PUBLIC KEY INFRASTRUCTURE, AND CERTIFICATION AUTHORITIES

Before turning to an analysis of Japan's computer laws, it is essential to concisely cover some basic concepts pertinent to e-commerce security.

ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES

In 1995, Utah became the first jurisdiction in the world to enact an electronic signature law. (5) An electronic signature may be defined as "any letters, characters, or symbols manifested by electronic or similar means and executed or adopted by a party with the intent to authenticate a writing." (6) There are many forms of electronic signatures; examples include "a name typed at the end of an e-mail message, a digitized fingerprint, a digitized image of a handwritten signature that is attached to an electronic message, a retinal scan, a pin number, or a digital signature." (7) One type of electronic signature, perhaps the most sophisticated, is the digital signature. (8) In the Utah statute, digital signatures were given legal recognition, but other types of electronic signatures were not. Although the Utah statute provides for relatively more security in electronic transactions, its technological exclusivity is burdensome and overly restrictive. Forcing users to employ digital signatures gives them more security, but this benefit may be outweighed by the digital signature's disadvantages: more expense, lesser convenience, more complication, and less adaptability to technologies used in other nations, or even by other persons within the same country. (9) Nevertheless, Japanese lawmakers decided to give a preference to the electronic signature which affords the greatest reliability and security: the digital signature. (10)

DIGITAL SIGNATURES: THREE ASPECTS

If the parties to an electronic transaction employ a digital signature, that decision will have these effects: (1) adoption of asymmetric cryptology; (2) use of public key infrastructure (PKI); and (3) interaction with a certification authority. (11)

In order for a digital signature to attain the same legal status as an ink-on-paper signature, asymmetric key cryptology must have been employed in its production. (12) Such a system employs double keys; one key is used to encrypt the message by the sender, and a different, albeit mathematically related, key is used by the recipient to decrypt the message. (13) The sender has a private key, known only to her, (14) used to generate the digital signature, and the recipient uses the public key, often available online, to verify that the proper party created the message and that it has not been altered during transmission. (15) This is a very good system for electronic transactions, since two stranger-parties, perhaps living far apart, can confirm each other's identity and thereby reduce the likelihood of fraud in the transaction.

In order to use this cryptology for electronic "signing," a person must first apply for issuance of a pair of keys, a private key and a related public key. (16) A prospective subscriber of a certification authority (CA) (17) requests the CA to confirm her identity. After verification of the applicant's identity, payment of fees, and compliance with other requirements, the new subscriber will be issued the private key that corresponds to the public key contained in the certificate. The certificate confirms the identity of the subscriber to the world and will be placed in a public repository, most often the CA's Web site. Whenever the subscriber digitally signs a message, the CA confirms the signature of the sender and informs the recipient of the encrypted message which "public key" is necessary to decode the message. (18) At that point, the recipient is able to access the public key, which is used to decrypt the sender's message. (19)

JAPAN'S ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE LAW

Japan enacted its electronic signature law (ESL) (20) in order to improve electronic communication and information processing with electronic signatures. It was hoped that attainment of these objectives would result in ultimate enhancement of the citizens' quality of life and the growth of the economy. (21) The ESL is administered by three federal departments: the Ministry of General Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Economy and Industry. (22)

CERTIFICATION AUTHORITIES

Licensing. In Japan, it is not necessary to hold a license in order to be a certification authority (CA). (23) However, in order to issue private keys and to verify digital certificates, a license is required. To be licensed, an individual or entity must file...

Amazon: Only Copyright Holders Can Unzip Kindle's Lips

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:48:00 +0000

Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) has backed off from the brewing legal controversy surrounding the text-to-speech function in its Kindle 2 electronic book reader. The feature allows users to hear the text of a book read aloud, although not in the dramatic -- or even conversational -- style of typical audio books. The Kindle 2 uses a computerized voice translator to deliver a robotic rendering of the material.

Still, the feature has raised the hackles of copyright holders who see it as a growing encroachment on audio book rights. One concern is that the Kindle technology could eventually become good enough to compete with human readers.

Text-to-speech (TTS) programs are improving, notes a blog post on behalf of the Authors Guild, which is leading the protest against the Kindle.

As evidence, the blog includes a couple of samples of TTS that were available with Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) Macintosh operating system released in 2005.

Amazon still maintains that the feature is completely legal; nonetheless, it will allow copyright holders to decide on a title-by-title basis whether to provide the text-to-speech feature -- neatly sidestepping an interesting legal question that is bound to reappear again.

Indeed, the controversy is yet another example of how new technologies insert themselves into longstanding assumptions, Ray Van Dyke, a technology lawyer with Merchant & Gould, told the E-Commerce Times.

Copyrights are a bundle of distinct exclusive rights, each of which can be licensed or sold separately, he explained.

"A license to display a work is distinct from a right to perform. Thus, the rights here could be to display the work on a [device], such as the Kindle -- but not to perform the work, such as an auditory reading, for commercial sale," said Van Dyke.

Not a Performance

The issue is not as clear cut; Amazon maintains that providing an auditory copy of the text is a "fair use" of rights that it purchased.

In the auditory version, "no copy is made, no derivative work is created, and no performance is given," the company says in a statement.

There is legal precedent for Amazon's analysis, said Jon M. Garon, professor of law at Hamline University School of Law.

"The text-to-speech function should not be seen as a copyright issue," he told the E-Commerce Times. "The performance of the Kindle e-books would be a private performance rather than a public performance, which is not one of the exclusive rights granted to copyright owners."

Although there may be a derivative work created when the book is being read, this temporary audio file is highly ephemeral. Given the congressional intent that private performances should not be protected by copyright, any creation of such temporary files should be considered fair use, he concluded.

Legally speaking, what Amazon did was akin to someone reading a children's book out loud to a child, commented Darryl Wilson, a professor of law at Stetson University College of Law.

"What critics are maintaining is that the computer-generated voice violates the derivatives rights clause," he told the E-Commerce Times. "I would have to say that is a strain. The copyright act does provide copyright holders with the right to control adaptations and derivatives of their work -- such as a play based on a book -- but it doesn't apply here."

Fair Use Checklist

The requirements for fair use suggest that Amazon might well have been facing down a legal challenge, said Dave O'Neil of O'Neil & McConnell

"Frankly, I think it would have been dead in the water," he told the E-Commerce Times.

To make a determination of fair use, it's necessary to look at the character of the use. Is it commercial or nonprofit? Other factors that must be considered: whether the nature of the copyrighted work entitles the owner to compensation; and how much of the work is used -- e.g., is the entire book read or just one chapter?

"When you start going down the line of fair use analysis, Amazon loses on every level," O'Neil said.

Of course, whether Amazon would win a legal battle on fair use is moot. The argument probably won't be raised again by the company, regardless of how many new products it chooses to develop.

The reason Amazon caved is that it recognizes the importance of building an author community that wants to promote its books on the Kindle, Garon said. "To encourage authors to make their works available on Kindle, Amazon seems to have recognized that it should not harm other economic interests of the authors.

Branding And Asia. How A British Planner Sees It.

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:44:00 +0000

Charles Frith, a Britisher, and a Creative Planner in advertising and trends works in Beijing currently. His blog, Punk Planning, has been one of our favourites. In this piece he looks at brands and branding in Asia and why, despite all the debate on digital and new media, many brands in this part of the world continue to do simple, interruptive work and get away with it time after time. Read the piece, here. Or an edited version below.

One of the dilemmas of working around the world, particularly in developing economies is that while its fun and constructive to join in the online debate of brands and how they work (yawn?) there is little chance of reciprocity when sparking off any dialogue about how Asia often subverts the brand model. Here they do, and the rules frequently get broken because the hierarchy of needs are different.

All too often the pressure is on to get some interruptive wallpaper out swiftly. In low media-literacy societies, the relationship between the customer and the product or service is only cemented by interruptive marketing communications within a media aperture that is recognisably not inexpensive (the trust dimensions of this is a factor the FMCG boys know all to well in developed economies). It also touches on low involvement processing which is a fave topic of mine too.

I’ll give you an example - earlier this year we won the Red Bull pitch and one of the nuggets of ‘cor blimey’ data is that they sold 1/2 billion cans last year in China, and will sell 3/4 Billion cans this year. The marketing people for that particular enterprise have far more pressing matters than brand dimensions, tautological backflips and transactional analysis or even displacement theory. 50% growth a year suggests the advertising fulfils a different role than say just defending market share.

No, clients like this need something ‘pretty’; up and out very sharpish. Getting it done is more important than getting it done well for many of these people and even sophisticated and experienced brand stewards know the score on that one in Asia. You snooze, you lose.

Now the clients of booming businesses might enjoy the pseudo intellectual game of brand discussions and even pretend they get it. But the reality is they all too often don’t and are seduced by the intoxicating sales uplift of trading-off short term efficacy against long term brand building. If growth is anticpated to be 50% or more the key issues are distribution and their commensurate B2B sales through CTN’s, Supermarkets and Gas Stations.

If you’re struggling with all this I’ll make it plain. You’re not making an ad for the guy or gal who is going to use your product. You’re making an ad for the all too often creative Philistines who give the nod on distribution through a new channel. They don’t want to see anything unusual. They want to see that expensive media aperture (TV&Print) used sensibly, as in ‘the sensible shoes’ they buy for their kids to go to school.

Put another way, they want to see an ad that looks like an ad. The bubblegum bullshit they have been raised to believe should flood the commercial break and by its very definition is a cauterized version of brand speak and the worst excesses of the Western marketing communications model. Hey, we sold them that shit don’t get uppity now!

Trying to get some creative through is like interrupting a commercial break for a quick breakdown on the meaning of Christo and when he wrapped the Reichstag. (Thanks Eaon).

Now that doesn’t mean it applies in all instances, but it is a general concession to the rough and tumble of commercial life when dealing with clients who don’t really know how hard a brand has to fight for during tough times as it’s the good times that delude us. Which is a universal condition.

This is especially so in Asia because many have never experienced protracted tough times. It’s all been economic growth apart from a blip in ‘97, and it’s the seasoned marketing people from countries that have weathered a few economic cycles that grasp it’s bravery that takes marketing communications a step further, that makes it work harder.

The problem is only exacerbated in the instance of say Red Bull where there is no competition whatsoever domestically. It’s so easy to make money it’s almost criminal but that isn’t my issue here.

While the above constitutes the ‘real politik’ of doing business in low media-literacy societies coupled with explosive economies, I also think there are some interesting brand workouts for budding planners who will by definition need to be less myopic than the couture of working on the brand catwalks of the creative centers of the world. It’s all going to get a bit more complicated and a good thing too.Those days are diminishing fast and a good example of trying to figure out what the future holds in store is best brought to life by the QQ car.

QQ are massive and they do all the social media stuff that we know, love and are familiar with except for one crucial point. QQ make more money than Facebook or MySpace. They do it using the virtual currency model that is closer to Second Life, as well as ringtone downoad stuff, and for a popular internet brand they also do something that I love to see and have blogged about before with the Youtube-to-T Shirt phenomenon which is that the QQ brand has actualised itself in a low cost, real life car.

Trying to get your head around a manufacturing model that is launched by a communication model is quite interesting and raises important questions about the nature of monolithic and explicitly endorsed and of course discretely endorsed brands. I quite like the way that Asia f***s around with this stuff and in principle sometimes they create a new brand question through sheer mashup ingenuity or circumstances.

Many of the brandng ‘rules’ apply with these scenarios (or identifiable contexts) but reading some planners talk about brands so confidently, and as to what constitutes good advertising by experienced practitoners in the field, often reveals little more than pontificating and parochial dare I say it, pastoral brand observations from a global perspective.

Most Expensive Colleges in the US

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:40:00 +0000

If you’re looking for a place to send your child when they graduate high school and you don’t want to send them to some bargain bin university, you need look no further than these—the top five most expensive universities in the United States.

Connecticut College - $49,385

Connecticut College began its life in 1911 as a response to Wesleyan University’s decision to stop admitting women. As such, men were not admitted to the university for over 50 years. Today, Connecticut College is known for the opportunities it provides to study abroad as well as its situation by the Thames River (not to be mistaken for London’s famous stream) and its wooded campus.

Georgetown University - $49,689

This Jesuit private university was founded in 1789 by Father John Carroll who had been appointed by Pope Pius VI as the first head of the Catholic Church in America. The university has educated various heads of state, including His Majesty King Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein of Jordan, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines and former US president Bill Clinton.

New York University - $50,182

Founded in 1831, NYU was established by a group of New York City residents, including founder and Secretary of Treasury (under Thomas Jefferson) Albert Gallatin, who wanted the university’s admittance to be based on merit rather than social status or birthright. Today, New York University is the largest private, nonprofit university in the United States.

George Washington University - $50,312

Located four blocks from the White House, George Washington University—known for its undergraduate liberal arts programs and its graduate programs in social sciences, international affairs, law, et cetera—was originally funded by a stipulation in George Washington’s will that fifty shares of the Potomac Company be used to support his long-held desire that the District of Columbia should be home to such an institution. While the shares didn’t turn out to be worth much, Washington’s wishes were eventually carried out by Baptist minister Luther Rice, who purchased land on Meridian Hill for the project. The university was founded in 1821, just twenty-two years after Washington’s death.

Sarah Lawrence College - $53,166

The most expensive university in the United States is also the youngest institution on this list. It was founded as a women’s college in 1926 and didn’t start accepting men until 1968. The college was founded by William Van Duzer Lawrence, a real-estate mogul. It carries the name of Lawrence’s wife, Sarah. Sarah Lawrence College was the first liberal arts institution in the US to take the progressive approach to education in the arts. Students at Sarah Lawrence have been known since the 30s for their political activism and that tradition continues to this day with involvement in the sexual rights movement and organizations responding to the war in Iraq.

The biggest brands in the world - Coke, Microsoft, Nike or GE? Nope, you’re not even close.

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:40:00 +0000

Umair Haque, the new Director of Havas’ Media lab had a great discussion about the value of brands which got me thinking about all of this over the weekend - and he’s on to something. The greatest and most popular brands in the world have been around for decades. Things that we almost take for granted; Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Intel, Nokia, GE, Nike, Toyota, Disney, McDonalds, and the list goes on. These are big companies that all have been around for many years, some for nearly 50 years. Each of these companies spend millions of advertising dollars every year to ‘promote’ their image. However, the world is changing and rapidly. Consumers are being bombarded and exposed to new and ever changing media on the web. When I think about any particular brand, what I believe I’m getting no matter what kind of material object I buy is an expectation of or a standard of quality. For instance, if I buy Nike sneakers, I know what I can expect or if I purchase a Coach wallet, I expect the wallet to last at least 2-3 years (or longer than most every other wallet) because its a Coach wallet. Coach leather is a brand I have come to know and the quality of their products are far superior to other manufacturers (at least that’s what I think). Its an expectation I have or a benefit I expect from a product or service. I know in advance what to expect. So, for years, we’d see advertising on TV or in magazines, on billboards or in newspapers about those brands. Not necessarily advertising the actual products, but big, full page ads proclaiming GE as the company that thinks about your future, etc. Big ads, big dollars and it reached most of us through the media mentioned above. It was and still is expensive, but it worked, that is until now. Enter the internet. The web has changed the game for these brands and it will stay that way for the foreseeable future.

Think about this one - the biggest brand in the world has never spent a nickel to advertise itself. That brand is Google. Why? It doesn’t have to. But why and how did Google manage to become the top or if not the top, one of the top brands on the planet? Through the internet and its commonality of use and discussion among us. A huge, online community emerged that had something in common - they ‘googled’. Google has never spent any money on advertising itself. Its talked about, discussed, and in a short period of time has become a brand by doing nothing more than delivering what it suppose to deliver to us - results. No promises of this or that to listen to or read. The free ‘use’ and global access has created a brand with no advertising. Bigger than most firms over 40 years old that have spent millions every year to keep its ‘brand’ in front of all of us. Information does not need to be contained into slogans or cute commercials during the Superbowl. Its amazing to me that in less than 10 years, Google has built one of the worlds most best known brands without spending a dime on advertising on TV, newspapers, etc. Think about it…its really quite amazing.

The World's Most Expensive Universities

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:36:00 +0000

In Pictures: The World's Most Expensive Universities

This may surprise you: The world’s most expensive universities are not haute institutions in the Swiss Alps or on the balmy shores of the Persian Gulf. Nor are they the Ivy League citadels of America’s elite like Harvard or Princeton, or ancient halls of learning like Cambridge or Oxford in the United Kingdom.

No, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the most expensive four-year university in the U.S. (and most likely the world) is Washington, D.C.’s George Washington University, with a price tag of $39,240 in 2007-2008. Rounding out the top five: Ohio’s Kenyon College ($38,140), Bucknell University in Pennsylvania ($38,134) and Vassar College ($38,115) and Sarah Lawrence College ($38,090), both in New York. All private, all selective and all extremely pricey--and that’s before room, board and books are factored in.

Those costs reflect a trend among private American universities--charge a stratospheric tuition fee, then offer a generous financial aid package. A GW official says the university provides the most need-based aid in the country, according to national rankings. For this year’s freshman class, that package was an average of $23,466. Next month, the school’s new president is expected to announce a plan for improving affordability at GW.

In Pictures: The World's Most Expensive Universities

“The cost of obtaining a U.S. degree is among the highest in the world and rising, which may discourage international students,” says a 2007 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Globally, the average cost of a public education in the U.S. ($4,587) was second only to Australia ($5,289) in 2003-2004, the years surveyed for the study. For private education, the U.S. schools have the highest average price tags.
Of course, the affordability of an education all depends on how much income one brings home. In Western Europe, where most universities are heavily subsidized by national governments, the price can appear astoundingly cheap. Even at Cambridge and Oxford in the United Kingdom, a student’s contribution toward tuition is capped at 3,070 British pounds annually. The average cost of public higher education in Spain was only about $800 just five years ago, according to the GAO. But it's worth noting that Europeans pay higher income taxes than Americans to pay for these and other social services.

Private universities in Europe can be as pricey as their U.S. counterparts. One example: The American University of Paris, just around the block from the Eiffel Tower, which charges 23,784 euros ($34,725 USD) annually for tuition and fees. Not good news for its U.S. students, which comprise 35% of the student population, as the dollar has fallen sharply against the euro in the past year. To be sure, there are indeed some pricey Swiss schools, like Franklin College near the Italian border, where tuition and fees are $30,860.

In many former communist countries, particularly in Eastern Europe and Africa, governments offer a "dual-track" tuition policy, where tuition is provided free to the nation's top students but a fee is charged to everyone else. The alliance between student unions and far-left political parties in those countries makes governments terrified of tuition fees.

In general, tuition fees at non-U.S. private universities are below $10,000 per year. Some exceptions:

In Japan, where some of the best undergraduate programs are found at national universities (costing about $7,500 USD per year), top-rated private schools typically base their tuition on one’s major. At Tokyo’s Aoyama Gakuin, an educational institute founded in 1874 by Methodist Episcopal missionaries, tuition ranges from $11,700 to $16,100 annually.

Canada’s Quest University, which opened last September, charges $24,000 Canadian dollars ($23,420 USD) annually for an alternative-style education where students study just one subject at time for 18-day “blocks.”

In the U.K., the University of Buckingham, which claims to be the only university in the country that does not receive government aid, tuition fees are tiered and an undergraduate degree is packed into two years. All told, a Buckingham education costs 15,500 pounds ($30,400 USD) for British students and 27,000 pounds ($52,800) for international students. It’s got prestige, though: former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was a Buckingham chancellor.

Just as private U.S. universities are the world’s most expensive, American-style universities abroad fetch top-dollar tuition fees. One such is the American University of Sharjah, founded in 1997. It’s a sign of globalization in the Persian Gulf region, with a wide range of degrees--from architecture to business--with all courses taught in English.

So what are beleaguered students and their parents to make of such high tuition fees? Take heart: Paying top dollar gets you a good education, but there are always attractive and far cheaper publicly funded alternatives available.

One thing to note: We excluded junior colleges and schools serving a particular need from our list. Had we included them, Vermont’s Landmark College ($41,275 per year), which caters to students with learning disabilities, would have been first. Texas Culinary Academy ($38,850 annually) would have ranked third

FTC May Take Hard Look at Look-Alike Google, Apple Boards

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:35:00 +0000

Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) are both wildly successful Web 2.0 companies that can be considered market makers in their respective fields. Another similarity that is less obvious -- but apparently very compelling to the Federal Trade Commission -- is their taste in corporate leadership. Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson sit on both of the companies' boards of directors.

The FTC is investigating whether this is a violation of U.S. antitrust law, according to news accounts.

At face value, it is difficult to see how Google and Apple could fall afoul of antitrust law. Apple is a computer and musical device maker. Google is, well, now a lot of things -- but clearly its primary focus remains online search and advertising.

Indeed, the two could be seen as competitors in some areas -- for example, Google's Android OS powers mobile devices that compete with Apple's iPhone.

A Legal History Lesson

Still, antitrust law does allow room for an FTC investigation under these circumstances, explained Raymond Van Dyke, a partner with Merchant & Gould.

"The Clayton Act of 1914, particularly Section 8, governs situations where there are interlocking directors, such as where an individual serves on the boards of two competing companies," Van Dyke told the E-Commerce Times.

The Act was drafted in an age when Congress had grave concerns about the concentration of economic power among small groups, and the Clayton and Sherman Acts were designed to nip potential incipient antitrust violations in the bud, Van Dyke explained.

"As this is one of the so-called per se violations, the government here has to merely show the potential or opportunity for collusive behavior, particularly anticompetitive behavior," he commented.

There are safe harbors that allow interlocking boards, according to Van Dyke, but these exceptions are for companies with low level sales and net worth -- hardly the case here.

iPhone vs. Android

The Clayton Act specifically restricts interlocking directors when the revenues from competing products comprise more than 2 percent of the revenues of the respective companies, Christopher Collins, an attorney with Vanderpool, Frostick & Nishanian, told the E-Commerce Times.

"iPhone meets this definition and, I suppose, the FTC is concerned that Google's Android may reach that benchmark in the future," he said. "Since these products are generically -- or potentially -- directly competitive, the FTC believes that it has grounds for an investigation."

Flimsy Grounds

Whether those grounds are actually substantial enough to warrant an FTC inquiry, however, is debatable.

"The fact of the situation is that iPhone [as a product or platform] does not compete directly with Android, which is a mobile platform using the Linux kernel," Collins said. "As an open source offering, I do not believe that Android seriously competes with the iPhone platform."

Based on the technical issues, "the FTC could probably spend its time chasing after more serious threats to the U.S. economy than worrying about Director Schmidt's work with Google and Apple," he remarked.

There is "zero indication" of any anticompetitive behavior, Van Dyke acknowledged, but the potential for collusion raises a flag; hence, the Federal Trade Commission scrutiny.

"Unfortunately, good board members may have to resign," he said. "Many have commented that with the Obama administration's harder line on antitrust regulation, we shall see many more of these and other antitrust challenges to come."

Indeed, Google -- which appeared to be closely aligned with the Obama campaign last year -- has come under regulatory scrutiny on several fronts.

Last week, a news leak revealed that the Department of Justice was looking into the settlement agreement that Google negotiated with representatives of book publishers and authors to put their works online.

BATH UNIVERSITY

noreply@blogger.com (Real State) — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:33:00 +0000

The Department has a strong international reputation in both research and teaching, covering all the mainstream fields of economics, as well as a wide variety of international development-related areas and disciplines. The following statistics reflect its high standing amongst UK universities:

24/24 from the national Teaching Quality Assessment.
In the last RAE (2001) economists within the Department shared a rating of 5 (highest rating is 5*) with colleagues from Social & Policy Sciences and Management and colleagues in Development Studies received a rating of 4 which was the highest score achieved by that discipline in the country
Consistently ranked amongst the top departments, (ranked 8th in the Times Good University Guide and the Guardian Guide in 2008)
As well as disciplinary-based research, the Department has a continuing commitment to interdisciplinary research, providing an opportunity for work around common interests in the application of social sciences. For example, the Department has attracted substantial research funding for its work on Environmental Economics, Wellbeing in Developing Countries Research Group (WeD) and DfID-funded Religion and Development Research Programme.

Main areas of research

There are 32 academic staff all of whom are research active (further details of the various disciplines).

Key research areas include:

Agricultural Economics
Development Economics
Economics of Social Policy
Environment and Sustainable Development
Environmental Economics
Governance, Policy and Politics
International Finance
Institutional Economics
Labour Economics
Macroeconomics
Markets and Microfinance
Political Economy
Poverty and Wellbeing
Public Economics
Social Structures and Cultural Identities
Sports Economics
Transition Economics

There is a substantial body of research postgraduates in the Department. Students benefit from a lively research environment and good facilities. The Department runs a variety of well-attended weekly seminar series for staff and postgraduate students, with external and internal speakers, and a Postgraduate Research Seminar series.

Research Centres

Wellbeing in Developing Countries (with other departments)
Centre for Development Studies
International Centre for the Environment (with other departments)

International and industrial links

Given the international nature of the Department's activities, the Department has many and varied links with international organisations around the world, through its pro-active research programme.

Careers Information

Economics graduates have pursued careers in international organisations and national governments working in economic analysis and policy roles, also as economists or managers in private sector business organisations (including the financial services sector), and in academia.

Development graduates have gone on to work for a wide variety of organisations including government departments, international organisations (including various UN organisations), charities, donors and consultancy firms.

The two MRes programmes have been designed for those wishing to pursue a PhD, as well as those requiring research skills either in the private or public sectors.