Archive for May, 2010
"You resigned again?! What's your new job?..." Job-hopping has become a hot topic among people, especially the young, and heated debates focus on it, as a result.
Many people are inclined to do one job all of their lives. In their opinion, people who change jobs frequently are superficial. They believe that the only way to succeed is to stick to one job, for constant practice in a professional field helps make an expert.
But there are many people who won't agree. They argue that change means progress, and if you're not satisfied with your present job, you have the perfect right to replace it with a more challenging.
FM and better paying one. Every change is a step to further success. This idea may be the reason why they change their jobs so often.
For my part, I think it reasonable to change your job if you have a better opportunity. But once you have found a position where you can fully display your ability, you'd better settle down and put your whole heart into it. Only in this way, can you get the true joy c achieving your goals.
There is the dilemma; Most companies today cant go revenue by flogging' the same old stuff to the same old custom through the same old channels in the same old way. People may ready he eating as many hamburgers as they arc' ever going to e drinking as much beer as they are ever going to drink, even buy as many plain vanilla" personal computers as they are ever going buy.
You just can l grow revenue significantly unless you bra jaw-dropping1 new products and services to customers. That's i easy, particularly if all of your energy is focused on It turned going to he corner coffee shop, hanging out. find drinking coffee into a powerful customer experience. !l It's not impossible to charge people a premium1' price for something they love —• hut it takes a truly over value proposition to reverse years of steady margin erosion.
Cutting costs may he the toughest challenge of all. Most com-anies are reaching a point of diminishing returns with traditional Dstrcdiiction strategies. Few are cutting costs appreciably faster if in (heir rivals. What we need here, like everywhere else, is radi-d thinking. The three companies that have weathered the current ^cession best are Dell. Southwest Airlines, and Wal-Mart. Each wrought radical innovation lo its industry's traditional cost si rue-ire. So let's be clear about it: The problem isn't that companies •e wrong lo worry about efficiency. The problem is that companies aren't inuring in the ways that they worry about efficiency.
So fine, let s gel back lo basics. But if you want to outperform lackluster'" peers, you're going to have lo bring more than thinking to the basics. You're going to have lo brought radical inking lo the basics.
Mr. Price, the owner of an antique store in Daly City, lived alone in a small apartment above his store. Because of many valuable articles he kept in the store, he has always afraid that one night somebody might break into his tore. Years before, when he had first opened his small shop here, he had iron barn fitted to all the windows and double locks put on all the doors. ' As an added safety measure, he had special cabinets built so that he could lock up his most valuable objects every night. But in spite of these precautions", he never felt safe, especially when he had a lot of money in the store after a good day's messiness.
One Friday night when he counted his money after closing up, le found that he had taken in3 nearly a thousand dollars that day. Phis was an exceptionally large sum of money and the thought of seeping it in the store over the weekend made him very worried, knew that it would be better to take it over to his son's house where there was a small safe1 but it was raining hard that night, md his son lived all the way on the other side of the town. Deciling not to venture out in the rain, he took the money with him to this bedroom, put it in the pocket of his overcoat and locked the 
at in the closet. He put the key to the closet under his pillow and .vent to bed.
Mr. Price lay awake for a long time wondering if his money really safe, and it was well after midnight before he fell sleep. Almost immediately, he was awakened by the loud ringing }f the doorbell downstairs. He sat up in bed, surely, he thought,
no one could want to see him at this hour of the night. The door bell rang again. He could not help thinking of a program he had seen on the television about a man who had been attacked and robbed when he went to answer the door during the night. Once again the doorbell rang, more persistently this time.
Mr. Price got out of bed and went over to the window. The rain had let up slightly, he opened the window and looked out. He could just make out the figurer of a man standing on the sidewalk below. "What do you want?" Mr. Price called out in a shaky voice. The man stepped back until he was standing under the street light. It was a policeman. "Sorry to disturb you," said the policeman, "but all the lights are on in your store. At first T thought something was wrong, but everything seems to be all right. I guess you just forgot to turn them off when you closed up. "
In this section, you should make realistic financial forecasts, showing the most important financial points and the potential and risks. You can make worst-case, expected-case, and best-case forecasts, and support them with marketing data. For example, sales growth figures for the past three years are more powerful in backing up your forecasts than assumed growth based on estimated market share.
You should provide complete and detailed financial statements including the profit and loss and balance sheet statements, and a three-year cash flow projection. Until the new venture is up and running, the company might be able to provide only projections of profit-and-loss statements or balance-sheets.
You should also describe the company's liability, property insurance, funding sources, start-up costs, return on investment, and all other financial information, since the potential investors may need to understand the history and prospects of the venture.
This book provides a sample business plan for a new joint venture producing and exporting artificial flowers. You can see what the writer presents to the readers who may invest in the venture. Please refer to Appendix III for detailed information.
Cash and credit cards soon may give way to digital money currency that can be sent over computer network in the form of digital information. "Shopping on th<
Internet has prompted the development of a new kind of money,'
Vary Coats and Steven Bonorris, who made a study of digital money for the Institute of Technology Assessment in Washington)
D. C. , told the World Future Society. Bethesda, Md. They explained that it might take the form of electronic tokens' stored on computer's hard drive or on "smart" cards that can he loaded with various monetary values. :
Millicent2 is a kind of electronic scrip that carries a signet message, a serial number, and an expiration date. Customers receive Millicent from brokers and can then spend it using their mo dems.
CyberCoins exist as digital tokens that can be purchased fron a bank and exchanged for online products that cost less than $ 10j
CyberCash is a system that utilizes software to create a gate way between the Internet and a credit card company's authorizatioi network. A cybercash system keeps records of transactions your payments.
"No one is sure what kind of electronic currency, if any, wil most appeal to consumers," Coats and Bonorris indicated. Son* enthusiasts want digital money to be just like paper money. The] want to be able to "make change" electronically, have their new currency widely accepted, and have easy access to funds via computer, laptop1, and smart cards. Others want electronic money to have customized features that paper money lacks. Some parents, for example, would like to give their children "conditional" digital allowances that couldn't be spent on cigarettes or liquor.
Some consumers already are using digital money. First Virtual Bank began offering it in 1994 and now has 150,000 accounts. Most Internet merchants, though, are waiting to see which of the competing electronic systems will win out in the marketplace.
We have not learned how to raise children who can help bring about a better society, to be sure. But I don't think this misfortune is caused by the fact that we have failed to have our children sufficiently " socialized. " Rather, to make our children ready and able to help bring about such a society, I suggest that we reduce our effort to have them socialized, but further our endeavor to have them individuated.
We never have problem socializing our children. We have been steadily and effectively socializing them ever since society had its first "army. " Practically, from the first moment our children become members of the military forces, they no longer belong to the family, and are no longer sons of thek fathers or brothers of then-sisters. In times of peace, they serve society's routine purposes by devoting their time and energy. In times of war, they serve its larger interest by giving up their lives. They are, in fact, so much socialized that they call themselves — and are virtually regarded as — society's convenient, obedient instruments.
The school is another major machine in which our children get marvelously socialized. This is the place where our children are aided to broaden their perspectives in such a way that they in the first few weeks start to regard thek home village as backward and thek home town small, and before they have spent thek first year in the college they are already promising to themselves never to come back to those original places but to plunge further and deeper into society. From then on they will work truly hard so as at the earliest moment to be accept-ed as members of the various social units: professional organizations, political parties, or government departments. They will start from the very bottom — and aspire to reach the very top — of society. In a few years they get just as much socialized as the soldier, but are ready to do something different; they will try their utmost to take the most and best from society.
Such socialization is, essentially, training aimed at causing one child to be like every other child, so that they will in tune come to hold beliefs prevailing in society, and follow the command of people who are in a position to act on its behalf. Such children are useful to society because, when needed, thousands of them will go into action "as one man. "
What will be the result of such action, however? It is true that "it is human to err. " But, while individual errors bring about normal problems and constitute ordinary dangers, errors of many thousand people acting " as one man" out of commonly shared beliefs produce problems that are many thousand times worse. And we call these " social disasters. " The last two centuries witnessed only too many such disasters: racism and the reaction to it, fascism and the war as its result, etc. They were brought about by thousands or millions of people thoroughly socialized. And they indicate an important aspect of socialization, which society has sorrowfully been overlooking.
Lessons drawn therefrom teach about the opposite of socialization; individuation. As its opposite, it can do just the opposite- enable our children in times of peace to be themselves, form their own ideas, and judge their own action, so that in times of trouble they will be able to question commonly shared beliefs and judge action on a social scale. In this way, properly individuated children are more likely to "help bring about a better society. " Unfortunately, we have not yet learned how to raise such children and, to make things worse, have been trying to prevent them from coming out.
Once fossil fuels have been burned, their usefulness is over. Unfortunately, it is here that the acid rain problem begins. Fossil fuels contain a number of elements that are released during burning. In the atmosphere, two of these, nitrogen and sulfur oxides combine with ozone and water to form acid rain. Although it might seem that areas containing power plants would be most severely affected, acid rain can in fact travel thousands of miles from its source with the wind currents. Wherever it falls, acid rain causes extensive damage. It erodes various types of building rock. Damage to buildings, houses, statues, and cars are widespread and costly. Some priceless monuments and carvings have already been destroyed, and even trees of some varieties are dying in large numbers. Moreover, acid rain damage to waterways is most severe.
There are four major uses of cattle; food, power, commercial products, and entertainment.
First of all, cattle are very important for the world's food supply. Over 50% of the meat we eat is beef or veal. Cattle also supply 95% of the world's milk.
In addition, cattle are an important source of power, especially in less developed countries. They are used in agriculture to pull plows and carts in parts of Africa and Asia. In countries such as Senegal and Chad, cattle serve as pack animals.
The third major use of cattle is for various commercial products. For instance, glue is made from their bones, and leather goods such as bags and shoes are made from their hides. Cow hair can be used to make blankets, carpets and brushes.
Finally, cattle can provide us with entertainment. A savage breed of cattle is used for bullfighting in countries such as Spain, Mexico, and Venezuela. Cattle also play an important role in the rodeo, a popular spectator sport in the western half of the United States.
Cattle, therefore, are of great importance because of their many uses.
In Germany elaborate laws detail rules on the use of the garden. Fences must be on the property line, and their height is regulated. In a country that is crowded and where j sunlight is cherished, the fence must be low enough that it does not hinder the growth of I vegetables in the neighbor's garden. Trees must be planted at a prescribed distance from the lots line so that they don't shade the neighbor's property. Germans send a strong signal that they don't want anyone to invade their space. If necessary, legal regulations will enforce the cultural predisposition toward privacy.
In a German house the emphasis on privacy also is obvious. For example, all rooms have doors with locks, and the doors are closed and often locked. It would be inconsiderate to enter someone's room without first knocking on the door and waiting for an invitation to come in. In the common areas one may enter without knocking, but the doors are still closed. As more and more houses have gotten central heat, the doors to the common living area now tend to remain open, but bedroom and bathroom doors are always closed.
In contrast to Germany, houses in the United States may have fences or hedges surrounding the backyard, but the front yards are wide open and inviting. Doors tend to be open, an invitation to come in. If someone wants to be alone, the door may be closed.
In Japan privacy is defined altogether differently than it is in the United States and Germany. Japan is a crowded country, and space is costly; therefore, houses and apartments are smaller. Walls and doors are thin, traditionally made of wood and parchment paper. Sound carries easily. Yet within this crowdedness the Japanese are able to create a private sphere. The private bubble and the personal space are more a creation of the mind than an actual entity. Americans connect privacy with physical space, whereas Japanese people connect privacy with mental space.
The obis deal with lack of space and the desire for privacy by creating elaborate rules. Many apartment complexes in big Swiss cities, for example, prescribe how late one can take a bath, flush the toilet, or use the washing machine.
Middle Eastern and Latin cultures also reflect their attitudes toward privacy and personal space in the way they arrange their houses. A house in the Middle East traditionally has few or no windows to the street; all the windows open into an inner courtyard. The family is protected from the outside world by walling itself off in a realm of privacy. Within the house, however, personal space for the individual is often limited; family togetherness is emphasized. To remove oneself physically and insist on one's own space is not acceptable and is not easily tolerated. Individuals are first and foremost part of a family, and the living arrangement emphasizes that concept. Within the family space men's and women's areas are separated in Islamic homes. In many ways men and women dwell in the same compound but live separate lives in separate quarters. Uzbeks emphasize family as well. When as Uzbek man marries, his parents traditionally add a room to the compound. The couple has one private room; the rest of life is shared with the family.
Office Space
Our attitudes toward private space also are carried over into our attitudes toward office space. Generally, cultures that value a big personal space value large and private offices. In cultures in which personal distance is smaller, the size of the office is not as crucial. Japan does not quite fit into this pattern. The Japanese prefer a larger interpersonal distance, yet they seldom have private offices. We must keep in mind, however, that the Japanese, as was mentioned earlier, do not so much emphasize actual physical distance to attain privacy as they emphasize mental distance. In addition, the emphasis on group orientation in Japan carries more weight than does any consideration for privacy. The whole issue of office space in the case of Japan is influenced by other cultural values and considerations.
As the winter season approaches, driving will become more of a challenge. Nightfall comes earlier, making it harder to see, and in many parts of the country, inclement weather will cause roads to become slippery, leaving less room for driving errors. To help make winter driving safer, slow down, make sure you can see others and other can see you, and accelerate and brake cautiously to avoid losing control of the vehicle, following are some tips to remember that will help you arrive safely during your wintertime travel:
Make sure mirrors and windshields are clean. Dirty or scratched mirrors and windshields increase glare. Clean them with a soft damp cloth.
Turn your headlights on at dusk so others can see you. If you are wondering if it's dark enough to use headlights, it is.
Make sure your headlights are properly aimed, for your benefit and for others.
When you stop for gas, wipe off your headlights and taillights with a clean clothe. Clean lenses can increase headlight output by as much as 100 percent.
If you come out of a brightly lighted building into the dark, give your eyes a few minutes to adjust before you drive.
Don't smoke in your car. Smoking is a distraction that can prevent you from noticing what's going on ahead. Smoke also leaves a film on -the windshield and decreases visibility.
Don't drink and drive. Alcohol drastically slows your eye's recovery time from glare as well as slowing your reaction time.
When you're following another vehicle at night, keep your headlights on low beam so you won't blind the other driver.
In snow or fog, switch to low beams; high beams reflect more of the fog or snow and increase glare.
Always slow down and leave more following room in bad weather.
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