BGN Entrepreneur

Emergency staff ran hospitals, schools closed and thousands of austerity-weary Greeks took to the streets last Thursday in a 24-hour general strike that tested the resolve of a national unity government.
Greeks poured into the square in front of parliament to protest about a new dose of austerity medicine prescribed by foreign lenders as the price for bailout loans.

New media has dealt a heavy blow to the traditional postal service. People today prefer to go on the Internet and use e-mails and micro blogs to keep in touch with each other.
As a result, the number of people writing letters dropped significantly in the recent year, bringing great threats to the future development of traditional postal service. Most letters handled by post office are now business letters, but even this sector is experiencing a sharp drop. Facing great threats, the solution is to change.
Providing more individualized services and catching up with the pace of people’s change in habits are among the most important ways to retain users with creative measures in the recent years.
In a new marketing ploy by China’s postal service, people can write letters that will be sent digitally to the Tiangong-1 space lab. From a special e-mail box onboard, the letter will be sent back to Earth and then delivered to the receiver in printed form. The price for the new service hasn’t been released yet. But it will sure create a buzz among the users.

Talents are among the most important competitive asset for companies to generate good profits and survive fierce competition in tough market situation. To better build this critical capability, organizations need to pay more attention to its human resource management practice. Here are 8 tricks for companies to take in order to retain the best talents.

First of all, companies need to start with establishing an effective and efficient recruitment process in order to keep a tight control of the source of talents;
Secondly, it is important to identify the employees who are just pretending to be working as well as the ones that actually have great potential;
Thirdly, offering a competitive salary makes a strong part in motivation strategy;
Fourthly, more appreciation and encouragement at workplace could actually do more good than you might originally expected;
Fifthly, painting a bright future of the company for the employees help strengthen their confidence in the organization;
Sixthly, be open to the ones who once left the organization is wise, as it ensure you won’t lose the best talents simply as they are shy to come back to work for you again;
Seventhly, tailor personalized job training or career development courses help improve the quality of your employees and make the ones with big ambition more satisfied;
Last but not least, it is key to have a good discussion concerning your employees’ leave in order to protect your business from being harmed by the leaving of certain member.

In November, China’s manufacturing sector shrank for the first time in nearly three years. According to figures by China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, it is revealed that the purchasing manager index, which is a main gauge of manufacturing activity, tumbling from 50.4 to 49 in October..
According to the analysts, it is indicated that it has become a fresh sign of a further economic slowdown and may prompt the country to loosen monetary policies. A lull in China’s property market is also said to be contributing to the economic slowdown with both prices and sales dropping significantly under the previous round of credit tightening.

When you are looking at any world university ranking, the same names, such as Harvard, Princeton, Oxford and Cambridge, will keep popping up high. They are definitely the elite of the elite.
If you are searching for a university from Asia, you might need to look well down the list. However, this might change over time gradually, with China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore investing more in higher education.
It is hoped that universities from this region will give top Western schools a run for their money.

As gold turnover surges in China, the Shanghai Futures Exchange is studying ways to add institutional investors including trusts and funds as members and extend trading into evening hours.
According to the China Futures Association, it is revealed that in January, gold futures trading hs more than doubled to November as prices reached a record high and investors sought a haven amid falling equipties, depreciating currencies and Europe’s debt crisis.

The global coffee chain–Starbucks is betting that coffee is an indulgence austerity-era Brits are unwilling to forgo. Following an aggressive expansion backfired badly in 2008, the company now plans to open 300 new outlets in the UK over the next five years and hire 5,000 more staff.
The move is at odds with other parts of the food and drink industry which are being forced to pull down the shutters with cash-strapped consumers curb spending and raw material inflation casting great influence on the profit margins.
UK sales of the company have grown for nine quarters in a row on a like-for-like basis. Despite of such dramatic growth, the group still lost £34.2m at the net level in the year to September 30, 2010.