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Archive for the ‘Global Business’ Category

Background

Albania is located on the Southeast coast of the Mediterranean Sea, with Italy to the West and Greece to the South. Rome, the Italian capital, is only one hour away by plane and Athens, the Greek capital, is about two hours away by plane. Albania has a population of about 3 million people, with Tirana, the capital of Albania, home of more than 1 million Albanians. The second largest city is Durrës, on the Adriatic Sea coast, of about 200,000 people. The Tirana International Airport is the only international airport in Albania and has direct flights to most European capitals.

Business etiquette Appearance

Albanians dress in European fashion and lively colours, with business attire being more casual than their European colleagues and their business behaviour more laid back. Albanians may dress casually for important meetings; women sometimes may dress in slightly revealing attire.



Meetings

Business meetings may often take place in unconventional places, such as café houses, residential dwellings, as well as during taxi rides. Often not much attention is paid to equipment in conference rooms or other meeting places and these auditoriums may be smaller than anticipated for large and important meetings. Contacts are frequently made verbally and payments for goods and services are conducted in cash.

Albanians do not seem bound by time; lateness for important events, including business meetings and lunch/dinner parties are not unusual.



Meeting etiquette

Albanians shake hands when meeting strangers and they kiss or hug the men and women they consider close acquaintances or good friends. Sometimes these circles will include the potential foreign business partners they have just met. Business cards are not mandatory and there is no custom of exchanging business cards at either the beginning or the end of a meeting. Assistants, secretaries and/or interpreters may not be introduced. Sometimes, especially when meeting high officials outside their own offices, bodyguards may accompany these officials up to the door of the meeting venue and may often wait immediately outside this door.



Communications

Most young Albanians (younger than 35 years old) speak fluent English and often other languages, mainly Italian. Most government officials speak English or some other European language (French, Italian, German, and Greek) to some extent. However, this may not always be true with private enterprises. In any case, interpreters are widely used for any types of meetings, sometimes the interpreter being the assistant or the secretary of the Albanian entrepreneur/businessman. Contracts can be made verbally and/or in written form. Albanians do not like much paperwork and try to keep things simple. Also, private businesses have very few layers of bureaucracy and the same person may serve as a manager, point of contact, secretary, accountant, as well as driver for a given company. There are many able Albanian translators and interpreters that may be hired at hourly or daily rates.

A nod of the head in Albania means “no” and shaking of the head means “yes”. This is very confusing; therefore it is safer to ask that your business partner verbalizes what he means when asked a “yes” or “no” question.



Payments

Bank transfers and credit card payments are possible, although most Albanians prefer cash. The Euro and the U.S. dollar are two of the most preferred currencies used for payments. In stores and markets foreigners may be charged more than locals, especially since most items may not have their prices advertised. Use of old and new “lek”, which is the local currency in Albania, is also very confusing and you should ask someone once in Albania for a detailed explanation. When shopping, it is better to go with your interpreter or someone who knows Albanian.



Eating etiquette

While Albanians love good food, at the same time they love to keep fit. You will rarely see overweight Albanians, although recently their number has increased. Albanian cuisine has been influenced by Greek, Turkish and Italian cuisines and the food served in Albania has many similarities to the typical food for these countries. Very few Albanians are vegetarians, therefore, it may be difficult to find suitable vegetarian food.

Albanians eat lots of meat; beef, pork, lamb, as well as chicken and fish. These will most likely be served at any business lunch or supper. Liquor is widely used in Albania and wine and beer, as well as strong spirits, will be served alongside lunch or supper. Albanians take pride in one of their most well-know spirit drink “raki” – (pronounced like “raikee”), made of grape juice and as strong as vodka – and will insist that their foreign guests at least try some of this drink.  It is an offence to refuse and just trying some is, in most occasions, quite acceptable.

Albanians usually pay for their guests’ meals, especially female guests the first time they are having lunch or dinner with guests. They will insist that they foot the bill, even when you have invited them to your favorite restaurant. There is a tacit understanding that the second time, their guests are expected to repay this courtesy. Sometimes lunches and dinners are not planned and it may happen that you will be invited for lunch or dinner immediately after concluding a meeting, especially if something good, like the signing of a contract, came out of that meeting. This will usually serve to ‘celebrate’ what has been achieved in this meeting.

Besides lunches and dinners, coffees are very popular in Albania. It seems that everyone drinks coffee, although sometimes ‘going out for a coffee’ may mean that strong drinks like ‘raki’ will be consumed. Coffees take time and there is no such thing as a ‘five minute coffee break.” Sometimes having a coffee may take longer than an hour or two.



Gifts

Gifts are very important for Albanians and mandatory for special guests. You are expected to give a gift in return if you have been given something. Money is never a good gift as it presumes you want a bribe or something illegal from the receiving party. Flowers are generally not given as gifts. Good gifts are generally works of art from your home country, such as small paintings, sculptures, and other memorabilia that will most likely decorate their offices. If you are aware that your potential business partner has children, a very good idea is to bring a gift for their children.



Business negotiations

Haggling is totally acceptable in most stores in Albania. When negotiating your business with your potential Albanian partner, keep in mind that no offer from them is ever final until you have accepted it. If you are going to negotiate some items, such as prices, places of delivery, etc, this needs to be done before the end of the meeting, unless it is clear that these items will be discussed at a follow-up meeting. Albanians are generally reasonable and willing to negotiate and accommodate their business partners.

Cultural awareness and conversation

Albanians are aware of their problems and they like their foreign friends to point them out. Women in Albania are usually considered as belonging to someone if they have a boyfriend, fiancé or husband and flirting or even remotely indicating an interest in them (for example by saying to someone, “Your girlfriend is very beautiful”) may cause very unexpected and unpleasant situations. It is wise to refrain from any comments about someone’s wife, fiancée or girlfriend.

Politics is another issue to avoid talking about to Albanians. In Albania everyone is very passionate about their political beliefs and one of the fastest ways to infuriate your potential business partner is unknowingly insulting his favorite politician or political party. Albanians, however, may initia
te political conversations and in these cases you may engage in exchanges of information about the political system in your country, especially if you are from a country which is geographically remote from Albania.

Smoking is allowed in public and in most restaurants, which typically will not have a non-smoking section. Sometimes it may be considered an insult to ask your business partner to put out their cigarettes, especially if they are already smoking them. If the meeting takes place in your company’s office, then you may choose to display “NO SMOKING” signs in advance of your business partner’s visit.

Homosexuality in Albania, although legal, is not fully accepted and it is looked down upon by most people as a sign of weakness and even sickness.

Religion

Albania is considered a Muslim country, with 70 percent of the population belonging to this religion. However, most of this Muslim population are Muslims because of their family origins and traditions and not because of choice. Albanian Muslims do not have any of the characteristics of the Muslim religion in the Arab countries, such as the teachings, the attendance in mosques, and the devotion to the practicing of their religious rites. Instead, Albanian Muslims gladly marry and cohabit with the rest of the Albanian population, which is 20 percent Orthodox Christian and 10 percent Catholic Christian. In addition, there are small numbers of Protestant believers.

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Global Traffic Matrix is a new Internet marketing business that allows anyone and everyone to make money online.  GTM has developed an online marketing system with advanced marketing technology that guarantees every member commission every month.  This system allows you to build your personal business or one of their partners’ link giblink and a few others.  This company is a multibillion-dollar joint venture between giblink, LLC, and global traffic system, Inc.  The company is looking to provide cutting edge marketing resources, innovation and technology to all the home business entrepreneurs.

GibLink is one of the world’s leading global Internet business social networked online.  Just to give some background on this company they are a developer of technology and innovation in has paid over $10 million dollars in commissions over the last 7 years.  The other company global traffic system has developed an Internet traffic tool which utilizes affiliate networks and high quality and target traffic.  These companies are all highly known companies with solid track record to back them up.  Global traffic matrix they believe that if you’re going to build a business is must be built on a growing market segment and retail sales are crucial to supporting any home business model.

Global Traffic Matrix also offers a tremendous business opportunity for the person that is looking to make a living online.  This opportunity is a very simple plan which you can find out more information at their website.  Once you are at the website you will be able to get a great deal the insight on why this opportunity is better than the rest.

This is the fourth installment of a five -part series on global corporate leadership. This article focuses on Information Technology





Economics (Debt)





Environmental Factors





Political Factors





Technology





Social Factors





The series taken as a whole should help you define the answers for your company to these nine questions:



Who are the customers of the future?

How will my company distribute its product or service in the future?

Who will be my competitors in 10 years? 25 years?

What will the source of my company’s competitive advantage be in the future?

What skills or capabilities will make my company unique?

What role will strategic alliances/ mergers/acquisitions play in its strategy?

How will my firm alter the nature of competition in its industry?

How will my organization redefine the boundaries between industries?

What can my company do to create a new industry?



The Opportunity

For many years, companies have devoted more than half of their capital budgets to information technology, and have acted under the simplistic assumption that ‘improved information’ results in increased productivity. The same companies have not based their computer investments on careful calculations of returns or added value, but rather on cultural and political concerns. Successful information systems must focus more on relationships and interaction than on the information itself.

The Solution

Tomorrow’s strategic technology investments will present more choices for organizations than they will know what to do with. Companies will be able to set up the technology that best fits their organization rather than the other way around. The value that organizations gain from these investments will depend on the foresight and intelligence that go into determining how their people will use technology.

There is a cliché that goes something like the following: If organizations only had greater quantities of cheaper, faster, and more useful information, they could increase their profitability and enhance their competitive positions in the global marketplace, etc., etc. On the surface, that seems to make sense. If you offer employees greater quantities of better information more quickly and at a lower cost, you should reasonably expect their performance to improve as a result.

Although in many situations where better performance resulted, even the improved information access often had little or no impact on people’s behavior. Most of us are aware of the risks of smoking. Yet millions of people still pick up the habit. Though there should be strong links between information and behavior in the enterprise, the real problem most executives face isn’t inadequate information, it’s the organization’s unwillingness to change behavior in the face of good information.

On an industry-wide level (micro level), some companies get strong returns on their digital technology investments. What seems true, however, is that on a macro level more money has been wasted on computerization than has been created.

No one denies that computerization and networking can add enormous value. But when we look at the numbers, it is clear that companies are not basing their computer investments on careful calculations of returns or added value. Other factors such as culture, politics, fashion, and competition also come into play. Best-practice methodologies often are irrelevant benchmarks for many companies investing tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in computers and networks.

There’s a fundamental difference between managing an information system and running a business on information, just as there’s a difference between operating a rivet gun and making airplanes. Managers intent on establishing technical systems subscribe to different values and practices than managers trying to set up productive business environments for their workers. Operating a business on information has a much broader array of interaction and interdependence than managing an information system.

When managers try to fit inflexible, mechanistic systems into organic contexts, they need new vocabularies to explain how people in organizations really use these systems.

Indeed, the word information loses its edge when redefined in business contexts; culture and politics and relationships may generally become at least as important.

Does the organization want to use its networks to centralize or decentralize responsibility? Does the enterprise want to make every bit of data accessible to everyone all the time? Or does it want to build a new information-access hierarchy into its intranet? Should individuals be rewarded for sharing information? Should people be encouraged to strike up electronic relationships with employees in other departments? Or should interdepartmental fraternization be deemed an inappropriate use of the network? For now, these rhetorical questions provide food for thought, however some of us encounter them in our daily business lives.

Conclusion

If an organization does decide to improve the way it shares information, it should focus first on changing the culture of sharing. Most information managers know little about designing incentives for enterprise collaboration, much less invoking it. That’s why responsible information departments have to insist from the beginning that effective enterprise computing and groupware don’t depend on transparency, replication, and semi-structured databases. They depend on how individuals are rewarded and punished for sharing and withholding information. They are about behavior, culture, and politics.

In this web-oriented say and age, the phrase “global business” is bandied about in marketing materials, advertising and around the water cooler. Although it sounds both a huge and massive undertaking to have a “global business”, all it really means is that your services or products are not bound by the geographic location of your business. Sound a little less ominous? No? Here are a few tips to see if your company can turned into a global business.

Sell Your Services Via Web

Can you sell your services via the web or can your business be located in multiple countries? If you offer online services like web marketing, advertising, PR or writing services, chances are that you aren’t required to meet your clients face to face to conduct business. Many companies in these categories have a clientele base that is located in multiple countries and time zones. They are global businesses because they can sell their services or products on a global level without having to leave their home base location to build a profit.

Shipping Costs

If you are a product-based company that requires you to ship to your clients, than you need to consider the costs involved if you open your client base to a global level. There are multiple global shipping companies that can offer bulk-rate costs to reduce your overhead costs. By employing a CRM system, you will have the ability to track all of your clients’ information, their orders, the order status, marketing and delivery costs to improve your profit margin.

Registrants?

Perhaps your business is centered on acquiring registrants, affiliates or advertisers who pay a fee to be listed on or affiliated with your site. This type of company can easily be a global business. There are no shipping fees or brick-and-mortar offices to maintain. Employees can be located globally as can clients. A CRM system will assist in tracking account statuses, payroll and costs, but there is no other overhead for this type of company, so going global really is a matter of simplicity.

Global Recession? – Announcing Business Opportunities For Online Entrepreneurs



In this second article in a short series, the renowned author, business coach and mentor identifies the positive opportunities to harness the power of online marketing to provide security and insurance in tough economic times.

Most every business, family and individual are feeling some pressure or impact as a result of the worst global recession experienced in recent times.  However, as has been quoted by global business leaders like Richard Branson, Donald Trump and Jack Welch, a difficult recession is the best time to launch a new idea or business.  This truism has never been more valid than considering the opportunities presented today by the world of internet marketing.  The key to harnessing the opportunities provided by online marketing systems is to ensure that you conduct rigorous and thorough research into the various programmes available, and importantly select a quality company and mentor to work with to coach you and lead you towards profitable success.

So what do the business opportunities available today for online entrepreneurs provide?

1)      Entrepreneurial independence.  If you have become frustrated and disillusioned by the politics and pressures of the corporate world, then the online marketing industry can provide you with the liberty and excitement to drive your own business model with significant potential rewards.  The ability to channel your passion, energy and personality into a business that is as time consuming, big or complex as you choose to make it can lead to an absolute transformation in your work and home life.

2)      Flexibility.  Coupled with the value of independence and self discipline in the point above, your own home-bases business can provide you with the flexibility in the way you work, where you work and with whom you work that means you can make choices about your work and life priorities.  Successful online entrepreneurs enjoy the process of firing their boss once they have taken control of their income by applying successful techniques as online marketers.

3)      Control and time freedom.  Being your own home-based boss is an empowering and hugely satisfying experience as long as you apply a disciplined and committed approach to building your business.  Knowing that you can work whenever it suits you and in the style that works for you best is powerful and uplifting.  More importantly than the financial rewards, often, is the sense of time freedom you gain by being your own boss and driving the growth of your own business.  Whichever income opportunity you pursue, whether it be selling products for others, selling your own products and services, or trading online, the business opportunities for online entrepreneurs are colossal.

Take time to make your best choices and here’s to your success.  If you would like to learn more about the author’s personal success to date, please click on the links in the resource box below.

Global sourcing, like multinational purchasing, is a modern business opportunity using the online market that often includes wholesale products from China. Global sourcing can be a fantastic way for companies to find the product needed at the best price. Multinational purchasing allows your company the opportunity to purchase items, including wholesale products from China, no matter what country the supplier resides in. These practices are normally done on the online market, offering convenient service that is quick and hassle free. Online suppliers offer a secure transaction for multinational purchasing, and global sourcing can really beef up a company’s bottom line.

Global sourcing offers a unique business opportunity that did not exist thirty years ago in the business world. Purchasing products from other countries, especially wholesale products from China, used to be very complex and time consuming. With convenient Internet access, the online market became available, but global sourcing and multinational purchasing were still not usually done because the trade process between nations was still complicated and confusing to the common business person. Currently, multinational purchasing and global sourcing are done on a daily basis every day of the year, and wholesale products from China entail a large percentage of these markets. Online suppliers number in hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, and the multinational purchasing available has become extremely simple and easy to do.

Current economic times around the world means even some business are watching pennies, so global sourcing and multinational purchasing can be great techniques for any business looking to cut costs and increase profits. The online market allows anyone to search the Internet and find online suppliers of wholesale products from China. A quick search will show up thousands of pages of results. Global sourcing allow you to find the right online suppliers before you choose one or more of them. Wholesale products from China are a great business opportunity because of the savings a company can receive due to the low cost of these products.

Global trade or export import trade can be usually termed as trading of services and product among two nations. Trade in between neighboring nations was also done in early days. Nowadays, Global trade is the essential guide that tells the whole story of a nation’s financial system, social and political standing. Actually, it can be said that Global trade is essential for overall growth of market.

Cordial two-sided associations between the nations considerably manipulate the success of Global Trade. In the past few decades, Export Import was rigorously suppressed and was measured impossible due to high taxes and excise duties. During that stage, nations mainly implemented the policy of mercantilism. The inflow of capital is what influences the success of the country.

However, with the entrance of industrialization and globalization during 19th century, the idea of free trade had been established. These days, all countries are able to witness to the profit that liberalized trade brings about.

Growth wise, the export and import trade is mounting at lightning speed. There are 550,000 people involved in the export import business and this generates enormous profits of almost $600 billion each year.

At present, Global trade is generally conducted while monitoring the course of action set by the WTO (World Trade Organization). But, the trade between two nations is also influenced by the trade and industry agreements between the nations.



Even though having rules to standardize Global trade, trade between nations still engages quite a few potential dangers at the political and economic parts. Some of these consist of ending of Global import export licenses, risk of war, danger of striking a ban on imported items after the shipment of the delivery and currency exchange controls, and more. Therefore, anybody involved in the export import trade should be wary about changes to both local and Global policies and laws.

If you want to make money in export import trade, it is advised that self-employment is the most excellent way to initiate. Ultimately everybody wishes to have his business at some stage. Why not build the export import a dream profession for yourself.

If you’re reading this then you have come across the survey site of Global Survey Group. Now if you want to be sure that you’re not going to be signing up for a Global Survey Group Scam, I totally understand. There are thousands of companies online where the only purpose is to take your money.

Global Survey Group is a service that connects companies with consumers. They organize surveys so that companies can learn more about the buying traits of their prospective customers. And for participating in these surveys you will get paid cash. It’s a definite win/win for everyone that is involved.

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On top of getting paid just to fill out forms and share your opinion, you will also be entered into an annual $100,000 drawing. It’s not guaranteed, but at least you can have the hope of getting a huge lump sum of cash if chosen.

Earning extra cash with surveys is a great way to put unuseful time to work. Even if you’re just surfing the web, playing games, chatting on facebook or myspace, you can do a few surveys and make a few dollars.

If your really serious about earning money with surveys then you should consider getting an automated form filler. This is a software package that remembers all of the information and answers that you fill in for surveys and can fill them in automatically for future surveys. You can triple the amount of surveys you fill and earn three times as much money.

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One China business trip can turn your perspective about China upside down and get you contemplating China sourcing in place of global sourcing import and export. You can expect a lot from China business trip and these include the obligatory introductions essential to evaluate global sourcing opportunities. No matter what, China business trips bring you face-face with global sourcing counterparts at various levels from students, independent entrepreneurs to top CEOs which is the essence of any business, including global sourcing. As time passes by, the objectives of China business trip paves way for future collaboration in import and export against global sourcing.

It may not be time to call off global sourcing import/export contracts but with China business, results are seen to improve faster. This is exactly the time to plan China business trip well in time to avoid delays. Plan your China business trip with integrated package tour operators, especially if it is your first trip. Planning ahead, for China business trip saves you from repeating the mistakes done by others in global sourcing for import & export.

Early entrants to China business, import and export were very focused on business improvement and haven’t paid much attention to etiquettes. China business etiquette demand suits to be worn in business meetings. Generally, restaurants are where China business visitors are entertained, arrive a few minutes ahead and the host will toast you.

-Ready for Global Sourcing from China

China business travelers must understand that the UN has recognized the Government of the PRC as the only government of China. Secondly, travel service providers abound in China, but the market is more or less underdeveloped. China business is focused on growing import/export as an alternative to global sourcing which is another factor fuelling the travel infrastructure growth.

Gather China business information besides travel information on how to begin import/export based on comparative studies against global sourcing. While arranging China business travel can be challenging, Chinese import/export providers come across pleasantly. China business journals are oceans of information just as import/export websites are and so are handy. Refreshingly, China business agents help with your travel plans keeping import & export requirements and your budget in view. Don’t forget; China business travel and import/export aren’t going to be a fairytale the first time over. You need someone experienced to take the headache out of your China business travel while you can focus on business. Import and export from China is fast replacing global sourcing despite travel lacunae.

Translators and interpreters play an important role in global business. They enhance communication by conveying information accurately from one language to another in different countries across the world. These translators and interpreters provide different services. Interpreters deal with verbal communication while translators deal with written communication.

Role of interpreters and translators in global business:

Interpreters and translators provide services in a number of business areas, and they specialise in specific fields. Some of the business areas in which translators and interpreters play a key role are:

•    Medical interpreters and translators:

Medical interpreters help promote communication between hospital management and patients. Medical translators also help translate patients’ journals and hospital information brochures into patients’ languages. Medical interpreters and translators will have strong knowledge of medical and conversational terms in both languages, as well as the cultural aspect relating to how the patient receives the information.

•    Localisation translators:

Localisation involves the complete adaptation of a product for use in a different language and culture. A translator possesses a high degree of knowledge regarding the local users of the product. The main goal of localisation translators is to adapt the product as if it had been originally manufactured in the country where it will be sold and supported.

•    Specialised business translators:

Specialised business translation involves specialist translation in various fields such as, finance, economics, marketing etc. An interpreter or translator will have sound knowledge of the respective businesses and markets and current events. An example of this type of service is specialised business translation in financial markets. This involves the translation of documents such as financial statements, mutual funds reports, regulatory statements and reports etc. into the target language.

•    Conference interpreters:

Conference interpreters work in international fora such as WTO, the World Bank etc. where the participants come from around the world. Some times, these interpreters are also used as mediators among international businesses that operate in foreign countries. Conference interpreters often have the ability to interpret from at least two passive languages to one active language, for example, from Spanish and French into English.

Translators and interpreters assist cross-cultural communication among businesses by converting written or verbal language into the target language. Thus, interpreters and translators play a vital role in global business.