BGN Entrepreneur

GE Group Squares up to Apple

Sky — Thu, 24 May 2012 04:53:00 +0000

According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the global digital music revenues reached $5.2bn last year. Apple represents the largest share, with iTunes taking up about 70% of all sales.
These days, in a Pennsylvania courtroom, a General Electric-owned company is currently squaring up to Apple over whether its patents were infringed when Apple launched the iTunes platform. In this case, two of the largest companies in the US battle against each other over the world’s biggest online music and video store. It has become the latest in a string of high-profile patent disputes between technology companies.

Stocks Slide as EU Summit Hopes Fade

Sky — Wed, 23 May 2012 08:58:31 +0000

Festering eurozone concerns and worries concerning the global growth are damping investor sentiment once again as the rally at the beginning of the week proves to bee all too brief.
The FTSE All-World equity index is down by 0.8%, hurt by a 1.6% slide in the Asia-Pacific region. Industrial commodities are in retreat while money is moving into “core” fixed income products like the US Treasury and German Bund.

KCom Resists Telecoms Decline

Sky — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:59:19 +0000

In the telecoms sector which is largely in decline, KCom Group is now revealing a rare growth. The traditional fixed-line telecoms business of the company around Hull bucked the trend with a growth of 1.1%t since the customers in the field upgraded to higher bandwidth telecoms packages.
Meanwhile, the telecom company is restructuring to focus on a newer business of providing business customers with broadband, data hosting as well as telephony packages. Now it is winning clients such as Asda and the Health Lottery.
Though revenues at the business division declined as it cut lower-margin activities, it is believed by the analysts that the division and the overall business will begin to see growth from 2013.

EU Warns Google to Change or Face Fines

Sky — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:04:49 +0000

Today, the top antitrust enforcer in the Euro delivered an ultimatum to the US search giant–Google to put its house in order or risk hefty fines, in the most significant transatlantic competition spat ever since Brussels waged its legal war with Microsoft about ten years ago.
Now, Google has “a matter of weeks” to decide whether to change its business voluntarily to address serious competition concerns even though the company says that they are unjustified. If the company refuses to compromise and settle with the European Commission, it will face formal charges that could lead to fines of up to 10% of its global revenue and a Microsoft-style fight through the courts stretching for years.

Five Unspoken Rules to Follow in the Bargain

Sky — Sun, 20 May 2012 11:16:42 +0000

When you are trying to bargain with others in a negotiation, there are several rules to follow in order to get better deals. Here, we list a few:
First of all, never set the rate first. The first one to offer tends to lose more.
Secondly, never accept the original deals offered by the other parties. The one who accept the starting conditions tends to suffer more in the end.
Thirdly, the bargain must be set to the level lower than the original targets of the other party.
Fourthly, make good use of your face to indicate your emotion. Try to create an impression that you are scared by the high asking rate by the other party.
Last but not least, be ready to leave at any moment, forcing the other party in the negotiation to rush to make a decision.

Become a Local Councilor

Sky — Sat, 19 May 2012 10:15:35 +0000

Are you opinionated? Do you have a view on everything? Do you spend a lot of time getting upset about local issues? Are you a long-term resident? Do you like concerning yourself with other people’s affairs? Do you like to rant but nobody listens? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you might suit to local politics.
Instead of complaining about things, get your sleeves rolled up and get involved. Make a difference. And here’s the clincher, you get paid! The payment is not actually in the way of a real salary you might expect. It is called the members allowance scheme and it provides elected members with a contribution towards the cost of being a councilor. Being a councilor is not supposed to be a full-time job, but you are elected to represent your ward and the interests of the people who live there.

HP to Axe 30K Jobs to Cut Costs

Sky — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:37:30 +0000

Hewlett-Packard is currently planning to cut as many as 30000 jobs. This move would become one of the biggest mass lay-offs by a US company in the recent years.
According to a person familiar with the plans, it is indicated that though the exact number of job losses has yet to be confirmed, around 25000 to 30000 of HP’s employees are expected to be shed in the coming months. It is said that the reduction would be set to come partly from an offer of early retirement.

HSBC Targets Cross-selling Revenue Boost

Sky — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:01:11 +0000

According to the UK-listed bank–HSBC, it is announced that the group could generate an extra cross-selling revenue of $1bn from the closer integration of its four key businesses, on top of the $1bn HSBC has been targeting, as part of its restructuring.
The banking group has already sold or closed 28 small or non-strategic businesses ever since chief executive–Stuart Gulliver launched his overhaul last May, which has seen the bank cut up to $55bn in risk weighted assets from its balance sheet and shed about 30000 employees.

Early Facebook Backers Add to Share Sale

Sky — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:01:52 +0000

Some of earliest backers of Facebook are planning to sell an additional shares of $3bn in today’s initial public offering, as they take advantage of a wave of public interest in the social network group’s flotation.
Such move will increase the number of shares on offer by 25%, with proceeds flowing to existing investors including Goldman Sachs, Tiger Global Management as well as Accel Partners.
Demand of the investor has been stoked by a cross-country US roadshow over the past two weeks, allowing Facebook to increase the size of its offering from $12bn to as much as $18bn. However, Facebook goes on rankling some large institutional investors who are worried that the IPO’s rising price from $34 to $38 and heavy insider selling could make the shares of the company more volatile after their market debut.

Where do Management Start

Sky — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:22:12 +0000

Management would be meaningless if the problem with staff motivation unsolved. No matter the top managers are looking to create a new management system or improve the current management process, without incentives identified, all efforts would end up being wasted.
The objective of motivation is to inspire consistant hard working. The real source of motivation comes from the following aspects:
1. Dream; 2. Income; 3. Development; 4. Opportunities; 5. Recognition; 6. Culture.