Six Tips to Good Business Management | Ghana Herald

You don?t have to be a fortune 500 (or even a fortune 500,000) company to take advantage of these tips for good business practice. In fact, some of the best small businesses have evolved and succeeded by implementing some of these principles.

I will be using the restaurant industry as anecdotal examples throughout this article, but you will see that the principles below apply to any industry. Maybe you will identify some restaurants in your area that aren?t following these tips. Watch them struggle for business, and ultimately close down as a result.

Know-How is Not Enough.

Just because you?re an expert in your field doesn?t mean that you have what it takes to be a business owner. When you hang out that open sign on day one, it is unlikely that customers will flock to you right away just because you know what you?re doing. You?ll need marketing and administration (at the very least) to grease the wheels of your company.

How many chefs or self-professed foodies have you met or known to open a restaurant because they love food and cooking, only to have it close down months or years later because people weren?t beating a path to their door when they opened? Making good food isn?t enough; people have to know about it to experience it. You also have to run a tight ship financially, which requires the advice of tax and financial experts, and ultimately an experienced general manager at the helm.

Hire the Right People.

If you are technically proficient in your field but lack marketing knowledge and expertise for example, then be prepared to hire the right people to fill in the blanks. This will start the trend of people beating a path to your door. The next trick is to keep them coming back and referring their friends.

Don?t Hire your Friends!

This may seem obvious to some, yet I?ve seen it done over and over again. Not only can it compromise (and in some cases destroy) a perfectly good friendship, but it can do the same to the business.

Sometimes, it works. But hire with caution, and a heck of a lot of communication (both in the friendship and business). Be prepared to wear different hats while at work and after work.

Don?t Make Snap Decisions. Planning Strategy is Everything.

I have an acquaintance who recently stepped in as part-owner of a restaurant. The restaurant is well-situated and ultimately successful, but with a slow-down in businesses in the area, they have to work extra hard to keep enough customers walking through the door and keep them leaving happy.

After one particularly harrowing night when everybody in town decided it was the place to dine and not enough wait staff were scheduled, their patio was drowned out with rain, and one of their head chefs walked out, the owners made some snap decisions during the aftermath. One of their decisions was to double the number of wait staff on shift all the time. It is my feeling that they didn?t truly see this idea through to conclusion before implementing it; they now characteristically have way more wait staff than necessary on shift. The hourly wages paid out are increasing exponentially (and unnecessarily). Each servers? share of the tips has significantly decreased, and often a number of them get cut before the night is over. The restaurant will likely lose their best servers because of this.

You may say ?so? Big deal. Hire more servers,? but servers are the front lines of a restaurant. Poorly trained or inexperienced servers can be the death of a perfectly good restaurant; retaining the good ones is crucial. This was a snap decision may be a critically detrimental one.

Hiring/Promoting From Within isn?t Always Good.

Although promoting from within encourages staff to ?reach for the stars? and gives certain personality types something to work for, it isn?t a good idea to categorically hire from within. Sometimes the skill sets just aren?t there within the existing employee base.

A bar/restaurant I know of only hires bartenders from within. If a server has proven themselves with blood, sweat, and tears, they may be so lucky to be promoted to bartender. Sadly though, servers and bartenders are not one and the same. The skills are not transferable, and not all servers understand the finer points of tending a busy bar. Hence, their bartenders are more often than not under-skilled and unprepared for being in the trenches. They don?t have mixology knowledge at their fingertips, they can?t make drinks quickly, and they don?t have the rhythm to manage a fast-paced bar when it gets crowded. They are simply thrown into the fire and made to survive by trial & error or go down in flames, ultimately quitting or being fired.

They are losing business because they insist on promoting servers from within to become incompetent bartenders, instead of hiring proficient bartenders to begin with. And when you?re running a busy bar, a good bartender is an essential element to make things run smoothly.

Good Business is in Consistency.

This could be the very key itself to good business practice. If you do nothing else, be consistent. E-Myth is an excellent book by Michael Gerber centered around this crucial concept.

Consistency is what franchises are built around. McDonald?s pioneered and epitomizes this idea. When you walk into a McDonald?s anywhere in the world, you know exactly what you are going to get when you order a quarter pounder, right down to the exact ingredients, quantities, and order of toppings.

A fledgling restaurant I worked for many years ago liked to think it was fancier than it was. The chef often played around with both presentation and ingredients for their standard entrees, thinking that he was adding variety and constantly improving upon the dish. Unfortunately when I ordered the salmon I never knew how spicy it was going to be, what it came with, and even how it was prepared. You don?t create a loyal clientele or repeat business with discrepancies; you do so with dependability and consistency.

With consistency, professionalism, proper planning of strategies, and alignments with the experts, you can run a top-notch successful business. Don?t reinvent the wheel, or ever find yourself saying ?my business is different, I don?t have to follow that rule?. Because the wheel is pretty darn efficient, and I?m sorry to say, your business just isn?t that different. Good business management equals good business. Period.

Source: http://www.ghanaherald.com/six-tips-to-good-business-management/

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Hamilton's Great Adventure now in Google Play [Tegra games]

Hamilton's Great Adventure

The PC and console game Hamilton's Great Adventure makes it's way to Android today, and is available from Google Play for Tegra devices. It's a two-part affair, and both the base game and the expansion will cost you $4.00, but I'm really feeling this one and won't mind buying my own copy. 

You play as an adventurer, and you need to work your way though mazes and levels, collecting coins and trinkets as you go along. You're followed by your parrot companion Sasha. Using virtual joysticks or a controller you walk along the level, until you reach something you can't walk past. If you reach that point because you weren't paying attention and the floor has dropped out behind you, you're done and need to restart the level. If you're stuck behind an obstacle, that's when Sasha comes into play. 

Tap a button and switch to your parrot, who can fly around and trip levers, grab keys and do all sorts of things to unblock your path. When you've accomplished that, a quick tap takes you back to playing as Hamilton and you can continue. It's easy and fun gameplay, but as the levels progress things get much more complicated and really present a challenge. 

The gameplay is plenty fun, and the visuals are a real treat thanks to Tegra 3 optimizations. Nvidia works with OEMs and developers to bring console quality gaming to Android, and Hamilton's Great Adventure is yet another winner from the TegraZone. Hit the links below to give it a try, and jump past the break for a few more screenshots and the game trailer.

More: TegraZone

Download from Google Play (1), (2)

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/6rkKCIzANCU/story01.htm

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Chris Brown Deletes Twitter After Vulgar Exchange With Female Comedian

'Let me leave this bitch alone ... it's good to know my worth by listening to a bitch that is worthless!' Brown tweeted to Jenny Johnson before deleting his account.
By Gil Kaufman


Chris Brown
Photo: Noel Vasquez/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1697871/chris-brown-delets-twitter-jenny-johnson.jhtml

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New smell discovered: It's 'olfactory white' as in white noise

New smell discovered: Scientists have created a 'white smell,' a 40-compound blend of scents in the middle of the pleasant-edible scale. The new smell was discovered by scientists in Israel.

By Stephanie Pappas,?LiveScience.com / November 20, 2012

Scientists in Israel have discovered a new smell, the olfactory equivalent of white noise. Here, Caroline De Boutiny, the perfume creator or 'nose' at the Galimard perfume factory in France, holds paper scent testers to smell different essences.

REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

Enlarge

Scientists have discovered a new smell, but you may have to go to a laboratory to experience it yourself.

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The smell is dubbed "olfactory white," because it is the nasal equivalent of white noise, researchers reported Monday (Nov. 19) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Just as white noise is a mixture of many different sound frequencies and white light is a mixture of many different wavelengths, olfactory white is a mixture of many different smelly compounds.

In fact, the key to olfactory white is not the compounds themselves, researchers found, but the fact that there are a lot of them.

RECOMMENDED: Are you scientifically literate? Take the quiz

"[T]he more components there were in each of two mixtures, the more similar the smell of those two mixtures became, even though the mixtures had no components in common," they wrote.

White smell

Almost any given smell in the real world comes from a mixture of compounds. Humans are good at telling these mixtures apart (it's hard to mix up the smell of coffee with the smell of roses, for example), but we're bad at picking individual components out of those mixtures. (Quick, sniff your coffee mug and report back all the individual compounds that make that roasted smell. Not so easy, huh?)

Mixing multiple wavelengths that span the human visual range equally makes white light; mixing multiple frequencies that span the range of human hearing equally makes the whooshing hum of white noise. Neurobiologist Noam Sobel from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and his colleagues wanted to find out whether a similar phenomenon happens with smelling. [7 New Flavors Your Tongue May Taste]

In a series of experiments, they exposed participants to hundreds of equally mixed smells, some containing as few as one compound and others containing up to 43 components. They first had 56 participants compare mixtures of the same number of compounds with one another. For example, a person might compare a 40-compound mixture with a 40-compound mixture, neither of which had any components in common.

This experiment revealed that the more components in a mixture, the worse participants were at telling them apart. A four-component mixture smells less similar to other four-component mixtures than a 43-component mixture smells to other 43-component mixtures.

Categorizing compounds

The researchers seemed on track to finding the olfactory version of white noise. They set up a new experiment to confirm the find. In this experiment, they first created four 40-component mixtures. Twelve participants were then given one of the mixtures to sniff and told that it was called "Laurax," a made-up word. Three of the participants were told compound 1 was Laurax, three were told it was compound 2, three were told it was compound 3, and the rest were told it was compound 4.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/XkRSoyCpteo/New-smell-discovered-It-s-olfactory-white-as-in-white-noise

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Imaging Shows Progressive Damage by Parkinson?s

For the first time, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology report, brain imaging has been able to show in living patients the progressive damage Parkinson?s disease causes to two small structures deep in the brain.

The new technique confirms some ideas about the overall progress of the disease in the brain. But the effects of Parkinson?s vary in patients, the researchers said, and in the future, the refinement in imaging may help doctors monitor how the disease is affecting different people and adjust treatment accordingly.

The outward symptoms and progress of Parkinson?s disease ? tremors, stiffness, weakness ? have been well known since James Parkinson first described them in 1817. But its progress in the brain has been harder to document.

Some of the structures affected by the disease have been buried too deep to see clearly even with advances in brain imaging. An important recent hypothesis about how the disease progresses was based on the examinations of brains of patients who had died.

Now, a group of scientists at M.I.T. and Massachusetts General Hospital report that they have worked out a way to combine four different sorts of M.R.I. to get clear pictures of damage to two brain structures in people living with Parkinson?s. In doing so, they have added support to one part of the recent hypothesis, which is that the disease first strikes an area involved in movement and later progresses to a higher part of the brain more involved in memory and attention.

Suzanne Corkin, a professor emerita of behavioral neuroscience at M.I.T. and the senior author on the paper published online Monday in The Archives of Neurology, said that this progression was part of the hypothesis put forward in 2003 by Heiko Braak, a German neuroscientist, based on autopsies.

But, she said, because of the limits of brain imaging, ?nobody could test this in living patients.?

David A. Ziegler, who was at M.I.T. when the research was done, and is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, said that the study, of 29 patients with Parkinson?s and 27 healthy patients of roughly the same age, showed that the peanut-sized substantia nigra lost volume first, and another structure called the basal forebrain, involved in memory and attention, was struck later.

Glenda Halliday, a neuroscientist at Neuroscience Research Australia and the University of New South Wales, who was not involved in the study, said the paper confirmed ?the progression of degeneration in two important affected brain regions in people with Parkinson?s.?

Dr. Corkin, Dr. Ziegler and their colleagues developed a way to use four different varieties of M.R.I. ? each using different settings on the same machine ? to come up with four different images that could be used to form one image that showed structures deep in the brain like the substantia nigra, long known to be important in Parkinson?s.

The disease kills brain cells, shrinking the parts of the brain that it affects, and the comparative study showed that the reduction in size of the substantia nigra showed up in early stage Parkinson?s patients, compared with a healthy group.

The reduction in size in the basal forebrain, compared with the healthy group, did not show up in the patients in the early stage, but was clear in patients in the later stage.

?This is a project we?ve been working on in our lab for years,? she said. A next step, already in progress, is to correlate damage to specific brain structures with symptoms.

Parkinson?s, she said, is a disease that shows the same broad outlines of development in most patients, but with considerable variation. Dementia may arrive early or may not appear. The M.R.I. technique described in the paper, she said, might help tease out what is going on in the brain in subgroups of Parkinson?s patients that show different symptoms and could influence treatment.

One important difference between the two brain structures is that damage to the substantia nigra decreases production of the neurotransmitter dopamine, while a smaller basal forebrain would reduce the production of a different chemical, acetylcholine.

The research is just one step, Dr. Ziegler said. One of the ?big outstanding questions,? he said, is whether all patients will eventually get dementia.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/health/imaging-shows-progressive-damage-by-parkinsons.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Stocks cut losses to end the day mixed

1 hr.

Stocks eased off their lows to close mixed Monday, but gains were limited as concerns over the "fiscal cliff" and Greece resurfaced.

?Going out and making big bets in any one direction is probably not fruitful until we get some kind of clearer road," said Bob Doll, chief equity strategist at Nuveen Asset Management. But the good news is that [the fiscal cliff] is so big that they can?t just sweep it under a rug.?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 42.31 points, or 0.33 percent, to close at 12,967.37, led by AmEx and Coca-Cola . The blue-chip index was down more than 100 points in its session low.

The S&P 500 slid 2.86 points, or 0.20 percent, to finish at 1,406.29. The Nasdaq edged up 9.93 points, or 0.33 percent, to end at 2,976.78.

The CBOE Volatility Index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, ended above 15.

Among the key S&P sectors, telecoms and energy led the laggards, while utilities gained.

"Unfortunately for the last 10 days, with the House and Congress gone for the Thanksgiving recess... much progress hasn't been made," said Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat.?

Serious negotiations are expected to resume this week as policymakers return to Washington from the Thanksgiving holiday. Democratic and Republican lawmakers have been trying to convince the public that they are willing to compromise and can reach a deal before year end.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with a second group of CEOs on Wednesday to discuss the deficit plan, according to the Wall Street Journal, two weeks after he met with a dozen chief executives including Jeff Immelt of GE and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo.

"[The] pending U.S. fiscal restraint is likely to be hurdled by a late-year compromise, but that the expected agreement likely will only resolve the short-term fiscal cliff issue," wrote Citigroup in its latest research note.

U.S. stocks rallied more than 1 percent last Friday in a holiday-shortened session amid encouraging signs on the "fiscal cliff" and following some positive economic reports. Major averages soared more than 3 percent last week, logging their best weekly performance in more than five months.

Knight Capital shot higher after news that trading firms Getco and Virtu are pursuing purchase of the entire company. While exact financial terms of the deal is unclear, sources told CNBC that the price for Knight Capital will likely range between $600 million and $700 million.

Europe shares closed lower, dragged by financials, ahead of a meeting of Greece's lenders to decide when it will receive its next tranche of emergency funds.

Euro zone finance ministers, the ECB and the IMF plan are meeting in Brussels to finalize the second bailout package for Greece worth 31.2 billion euros ($40 billion).

Apple rose after Citigroup initiated coverage of the tech giant with a "buy" rating and a $675 price target. Separately, the iPhone maker said it is adding new Samsung devices to its patent-infringement lawsuit.

Facebook jumped after Bernstein upgraded the social-networking giant to "outperform" from "market perform" and raised its price target to $33 from $23. Despite the stock's 40 percent spike in the last three months, the company is still trading well below its IPO price of $38 a share.

Yahoo gained after Goldman Sachs added the Internet company to its "conviction buy list" and upped its price target to $24 from $22.

And Research In Motion was upgraded to "sector outperformer" from "sector underperformer" at CIBC World Markets. The brokerage also lifted its price target on the struggling BlackBerry maker to $17 from $8.

Google edged lower after the CEO of ICOA claimed that the press release announcing the search-engine giant has acquired the small tech company for $400 million was a "hoax," adding his firm has never been in acquisition talks.

A survey by the National Retail Federation showed a record 247 million shoppers visited stores and websites over the Black Friday weekend, up from 226 million last year. U.S. retail sales jumped an estimated 12.8 percent on the previous year over the four-day holiday weekend, according to the organization.

Amazon.com , Best Buy and Ebay traded higher.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart said it had its "best ever" Black Friday events, selling 1.8 million towels, 1.3 million televisions, 1.3 million dolls and 250,000 bicycles.

McGraw-Hill rallied after the publishing company announced it will sell its education business to Apollo Global Management in a deal worth $2.5 billion.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/stocks-cut-losses-end-day-mixed-1C7209897

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Alzheimer's care - Poway Home Care | Pomerado News

Alzheimer's care

Take advantage of professional Poway home care services this holiday season and ease the burden of Alzheimer's care.

By Claire Covert-Wilson

The holiday season is a wonderful time for families and friends to gather together. Unfortunately, however, the season can be bittersweet for those struggling to provide Alzheimer?s care for aging loved ones. Holiday stress can compound the already formidable challenges facing family caregivers, and take away from the love that motivates children and spouses to care for Alzheimer?s patients. This year, let Poway home care professionals lend a hand ? and rest easy knowing that your loved one is in compassionate, respectful and experienced hands.

Caregiving for seniors, inspired by love stories

As a respite care professional, I spend my days working with couples and families who are fighting to create a healthy, happy quality of life for aging loved ones suffering from Alzheimer?s disease and other degenerative illnesses. Getting to know these individuals and their stories reminds me of the unbreakable bonds that bring us together ? and of the inspiration that first drew me to a career in elder care. To see a man stand by his wife even as her memories of their life together begin to slip away as a result of Alzheimer?s disease, or to witness a woman caring for her husband long after he loses the ability to recognize her by name, is to see love in action ? to experience the power of a loving bond between people. Every day, I work hard to bring that power to my work as a caregiver: and at Unlimited Caregivers, we model our services after the lasting relationships, one-on-one attention, humor and compassion that keep families close over the years.

San Diego senior care you can trust

This holiday season, it is important for families to come together and cherish one another. But it is equally important for family caregivers to take time for themselves to alleviate stress and combat the toll that caretaking can have on individuals, relationships, and overall well being. Strike a balance between family time and personal time by hiring a professional caregiver to lighten the load ? and you?ll find yourself better able to relax and enjoy the holidays with your beloved family and friends.

At Unlimited Caregivers, we strive to create a satisfying, personalized experience for our clients and their caregivers, and to forge lasting and rewarding relationship with our clients that blend friendliness and professionalism for optimal comfort and ease. Our family owned and operated Poway home care company offers in-home services throughout San Diego. To learn more about Unlimited Caregivers, or to schedule services over the holidays, contact us online today. Visit www.unlimitedcaregivers.com.

Related posts:

  1. Integrating dementia and Alzheimer?s care into San Diego caregiving for seniors
  2. As elderly populations rise, home health caregivers present a compassionate solution for senior living
  3. Elder abuse prevention: tips for San Diego caregivers
  4. Caregiving for seniors: balancing humor with respect for friendly and professional eldercare
  5. Financial planning advice: consider the cost of elderly care in your retirement budget

Short URL: http://www.pomeradonews.com/?p=30937

Source: http://www.pomeradonews.com/2012/11/26/poway-home-care-bringing-alzheimer%E2%80%99s-care-home-for-the-holidays/

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Legal Lasso: Cyber Monday Edition | Law Week Colorado

Posted on 26 November 2012.

Editor?s Note: Stay on top of this news story and others by liking Law Week Colorado on Facebook!

COMPILED BY LAW WEEK COLORADO?S NEWS STAFF

GET YOUR PARTY ON THIS WEEK: Circuit Media?s party to celebrate Colorado?s newly elected legislature will be held at the History Colorado Center on Wednesday, Nov. 28. Sponsorship details for Capitol Rock are available by emailing us at?info@circuitmedia.com.

WEIGHING IN??he Supreme Court may announce as early as Tuesday whether it will take up the divisive issue of same-sex marriage.?The court could also announce if it will hear a constitutional challenge to a federal law denying financial benefits to gay and lesbian couples.?If the order from the court arrives, oral arguments and an eventual ruling would not happen until next year. But the current appeals are sure to reignite the hot-button social debate in a presidential election.

DIVIDED: Courts throughout the country on legality of searching cellphones.

BIG WEEKEND FOR DA NEWS: As George Brauchler, the district attorney-elect of the 18th Judicial District, named the current DA in the 5th Judicial District as his right hand?man. Mark Hurlbert, who was term limited from running again in his district, will join the office Jan. 8.

ALSO IN THE NEWS:?Democratic challenger Sherry Caloia is the apparent winner in the very close race for the 9th Judicial District Attorney?s seat against incumbent Martin Beeson.

ORDER THEM NOW! Our Colorado Revised Statutes e-book on?Kindle,?Nook?and coming soon in iTunes.

MAKING ITS WAY THROUGH COLORADO?S COURTS: Off-duty marijuana use.

STEPPING DOWN: The Securities & Exchange Commission Chief who changed the agency.

CLOSING DOWN: Denver?s Burnsley Hotel.

CHALLENGE TO BAN ON NON-LAWYER OWNERS is revived.

FILING FINAL BANKRUPTCY PLAN: Dewey.

HOW TO BE MORE VALUABLE: For general counsel looking to become more valuable to senior business leaders, one crucial skill set is the ability to identify future legal and regulatory risks to the business,?according to a new study?by the consultancy KPMG.

SEEKING A BIGGER PIECE OF THE PIE: Silicon Valley firms looking to take some of China?s technology work.

MORE IN THE ON-GOING TWINKIE SAGA.

LAW FIRM STAFFERS PLEAD GUILTY to stealing more than $700,000 from client accounts.

TAKING THE FIFTH: Defendants in Pitkin County monoxide case.

SEEING A $3 BILLION ECONOMIC BOOST: Colorado?s economy as a result of a big hunting, fishing and wildlife year.

LOOKING FOR A NEW LEADER: University of Colorado?s football team.

TODAY?S 10TH CIRCUIT DECISIONS

TODAY?S ANNOUNCEMENTS from the Colorado Supreme Court.

THIS WEEK?S CBA CALENDAR

THE NEWS SEEN

THIS WEEK?S FEDERAL COURT CALENDARS available here.

Heading out on the town? Tweet us at @BarefootPRDen or email us at barefootpr@me.com to let us know about it. And if you?re lucky, we will swing by!

Send tips for this column to?newsroom@lawweekcolorado.com.

?

Source: http://www.lawweekonline.com/2012/11/legal-lasso-cyber-monday-edition/

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Euro zone to seek Greek aid deal without write-off

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund began their third attempt in as many weeks to release emergency aid for Greece on Monday, with policymakers saying a write-down of Greek debt is off the table for now.

Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras voiced confidence the ministers would finally reach a deal after Greece had fulfilled it's part of the deal by enacting tough austerity measures and economic reforms.

"I'm certain we will find a mutually beneficial solution today," he said on arrival for what was set to be another marathon meeting.

Greece, where the euro zone's debt crisis erupted in late 2009, is the currency area's most heavily indebted country, despite a big "haircut" this year on privately-held bonds. Its economy has shrunk by nearly 25 percent in five years.

EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn said it was vital to disburse the next 31 billion euro tranche of aid "to end the uncertainty that is still hanging over Greece". He urged all sides to "go the last centimeter because we are so close to an agreement".

Greece had met international lenders' conditions and "Now it is delivery time for the Eurogroup and the IMF," Rehn said.

Negotiations have been stalled over how Greece's debt, forecast to peak at almost 190 percent of gross domestic product next year, can be cut to a more sustainable 120 percent by 2020.

Without agreement on how to reduce the debt, the IMF has held up payments to Athens because there is no guarantee of when the need for emergency financing will end.

The key question is: Can Greek debt become sustainable without the euro zone writing off some of the loans to Athens?

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on arrival that the solution must be "credible for Greece". The IMF argues that the debt can only be made manageable if euro zone governments forgive some of their loans to Athens, but Germany and its northern European allies have so far rejected any such idea.

DEBT RELIEF "NOT ON TABLE"

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters on arrival that a debt cut was legally impossible, not just in Germany but for other euro zone countries, if it was linked to a new guarantee of loans.

"You cannot guarantee something if you're cutting debt at the same time," he said. That might not preclude debt relief at a later stage if Greece has completed its adjustment program and no longer needs new loans.

The German banking association (BDB) said a fresh "haircut" or forced reduction in the value of Greek sovereign debt, must only happen as a last resort.

Two European Central Bank policymakers, vice-president Vitor Constancio and executive board member Joerg Asmussen, said debt forgiveness was not on the agenda for now.

"It has been clearly stated. It is not on the table. Everything else is just rumors," Constancio told reporters in Berlin.

Asmussen told Germany's Bild newspaper the package of measures would include a substantial reduction of interest rates on loans to Greece and a debt buy-back by Greece, funded by loans from a euro zone rescue fund.

So far, the options under consideration include reducing interest on already extended bilateral loans to Greece from the current 150 basis points above financing costs.

How much lower is not yet decided -- France and Italy would like to reduce the rate to 30 basis points (bps), while Germany and some other countries insist on a 90 bps margin.

Another option, which could cut Greek debt by almost 17 percent of GDP, is to defer interest payments on loans to Greece from the EFSF, a temporary bailout fund, by 10 years.

The European Central Bank could forego profits on its Greek bond portfolio, bought at a deep discount, cutting the debt pile by a further 4.6 percent by 2020, a document prepared for the ministers' talks last week showed.

Not all euro zone central banks are willing to forego their profits, however, the German Bundesbank among them.

Greece could also buy back its privately-held bonds on the market at a deep discount, with gains from the operation depending on the scope and price.

But the preparatory document from last week said that the 120 percent target could not be reached in 2020, only two years later, unless ministers accept losses on their loans to Athens, provide additional financing or force private creditors into selling Greek debt at a discount.

The latest analysis for the ministers showed the debt could come down to 125 percent of GDP in 2020, one euro zone official with insight into the talks said.

FORGIVING OFFICIAL LOANS?

To cut the debt more boldly, the IMF wants the euro zone to forgive Greece some of the official loans, in what is called Official Sector Involvement (OSI) in EU jargon.

"OSI is at the core of the problems with reaching a deal," one euro zone official with insight into the talks said.

German central bank governor Jens Weidmann has suggested that Greece could "earn" a reduction in debt it owes to euro zone governments in a few years if it diligently implements all the agreed reforms. The European Commission backs that view.

An opinion poll published on Monday showed Greece's anti-bailout SYRIZA party with a four-percent lead over the Conservatives who won election in June, adding to uncertainty over the future of reforms.

German paper Welt am Sonntag said on Sunday that euro zone ministers were considering a write-down of official loans for Greece from 2015, but gave no sources, and a euro zone official said such an option was never seriously discussed.

French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said on Sunday that euro zone ministers made big progress to reach a common position during at a conference call on Saturday in preparation for their talks with the IMF on Monday.

"We are very close to a solution," he said.

Moscovici mentioned the reduction of interest on bilateral loans, foregoing ECB profits on Greek bonds and the debt buy-back as the options that would need to be applied for a deal as well as additional financing for Athens to keep it funded until 2016, rather than only until 2014.

(Additional reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek, Ethan Bilby, Luke Baker in Brussels, Reinhardt Becker in Berlin, Astrid Wendlandt in Paris; Writing by Jan Strupczewski and Paul Taylor; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/euro-zone-imf-seek-greece-deal-debt-write-055911326--business.html

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Types of business technology, Technology Info

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If you are a business owner and you want to improve the productivity, communication, and efficiency of your business then chances are that you will need technology in order to do that. Most successful businesses rely on various types of technology in order to do almost every business function. It is important for business owners to realize that while there are many different types of business technology it doesn?t have to intimidate you. If you take the time to learn about the about the various business technologies that are available you can choose the ones that will help you in improving your business and making it succeed. Here is what you need to know about the types of business technology-

? Computers-The backbone of most business technology is found in the computers that businesses use. Most computers are loaded with software that lets the employees of the business use email, design sales presentations; write letters, manage finances, and hundreds of other tasks. There are basically two types of computers either desktop models or laptops that can be mobile. Business owners will need to learn all they can about computer in order to choose the best ones that will meet the needs of their business.
? Software-This is the tool that is loaded onto the computer and allows it to accomplish certain tasks. Most businesses choose to use productivity tools, word process programs and business finance software. Business finance software is a crucial program for most business owners who can find it complex to manage the financial side of their business. In addition, there are many other software programs that will allow presentations and marketing strategies to be easily generated. There are also literally hundreds of software programs that are designed for specific business tasks.
? Networking-One of the major benefits of using computer technology is that it can be linked together to form a network. This will allow all the employees in your business to be able to share information, communicate with each other and it will provide a central storage place for pertinent information that is needed to run your business. Networking your computer system will also allow several computers to share a printer. Keep in mind that the computer network can be as large or small as you need it to be. While you will need an Information Technology specialist to help you network your computers this can provide a substantial benefit for your business.
? Telephone systems-You may not think of a telephone as technology but today?s business phones are far more complex then just being something that takes and makes calls. Business telephone systems are complex pieces of equipment that will split the phone line into several different lines inside the business. In addition, today most businesses have a phone system that allows a computer to route the call to the correct person or department. Voice mail also is considered part of phone technology and provides your customers with more options to reach whoever they need to talk to.
? Inventory control systems-Inventory control technology can be part of the business finance software or something that is totally separate. Every business should employ technology to help manage the overall level of inventory. Inventory control systems can also help to notify business owners when inventory levels are to low, when inventory is not moving, or when other changes need to be made. If you use technology to manage your inventory then whenever it is updated your inventory control system will reflect that. This allows the business owner to have a constant real time idea of what is happening with their business? inventory.

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Source: http://businessknowledgesource.com/technology/types_of_business_technology_034447.html

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