Economics

China Reports Very Fast Growth in the First Half of 2006

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:03:30 GMT

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China the Chinese economy surged 10.9% year-on-year in the first half of this year. The booming construction and bank loans could ignite inflation - driven by the building boom, China's economy grew a stunning 11.3 percent in the second quarter from a year ago. The 11.3 percent growth in the second quarter compared with a year ago exceeded forecasts (the fastest pace in a decade). Exports also surged, but the government said consumer inflation stayed low at just 1.3 percent.

The world's 4-th largest economy defied a series of cooling measures implemented by the government over the past six months - they increased borrowing costs and curbing investments after first-quarter growth hit an already strong 10.3 percent.

The total GDP of China between January and June reached 1.14 trillion USD.

China's macroeconomics presents overheating of investment in the first half of this year. Economists said they expected Beijing to tighten the monetary policy or to respond by raising interest rates for a second time this year and possibly allowing the yuan to rise against the U.S. dollar, which could slow growth by making exports less competitive. China's multibillion-dollar trade surplus has led to complaints that its currency is undervalued.

The fast growth in China could reduce poverty, pay for reforms of state industry and create jobs for millions of laid-workers and new university graduates. But they worry that a wave of construction of factories, shopping malls and luxury apartments is creating a glut of unneeded properties and could leave banks buried under unpaid loans.

Tags: macroeconomics, China, economics, politics, economy, growth

source: economics.informbank.com

Conference calls

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 12:41:30 GMT

At the moment, if you're talking to anyone, but you wish to add another person to the call, you can call him and to gather the two calls in one and make an original conference call.

What does a conference call mean? This is a conversation with more than two participants. The conference call, usually, can be made by special intended gadgets - mobile phones, personal computer, lap top and other communication devices.

The conference call helps in many cases when you have to talk to more people at the same time. It is very useful in calls between small or big companies, banks, corporate and business partners, clients or people from the family and friends, of course. Another important thing is that the conference call is not expensive. In the matter of the fact it is cheaper and more economical because you talk with more people in lower prices. It is a great way to settle down a business and talk with your partners even though you are not near to each other.

Nowadays there are companies which are interested in the conference calling and they try to manage more and more calls. They offer great rate plans and man can choose the one that is most suitable for him. These services are as popular as the "rent a car" services especially in the USA, Japan and China. The corporate structure in most of the companies allows the conference calls between businessmen. The lawyer's offices inevitably need way of communication because part of their job is to consult one to another about the cases.

It is really comfortable to talk with more friends just with one call. In that way you economize the calls you'd do if you have to talk with each individually about the same thing. Other priority is that by using the service of conference call it becomes possible to chat with people from different countries. It is great opportunity for international companies to talk with business partners all over the world or with colleagues who are in another country.

You can have audio and video conference call. You can see the people you're talking to and they can observe each other. The audio call is a normal call but with three, four, five and so on people.

An important fact to remember is that you always must point when you can accept or decline a call(if the service is on or off-line) .If you don't want to use the conference call service you can hold the call and talk to the person later.

There are programs that are made for this particular kind of calls. Mostly these are the chat programs like Skype. This is really comfortable way to talk to many people who are far away from you. And these are not just colleagues but family and friends. Skype is the most used chat program at this time. And all you have to do is to have internet connection and account. It is so easy. Everything is easy.

Whether you are a Fortune 500 company or a small business just getting on your feet, you need to meet when and where it's convenient for you. What you're really looking for is a reliable conference calling service that can give you convenience and a variety of products to help you manage your meetings efficiently. If you choose the right company for conference calling and the right offer everything can be much more cheaply and comfortably. By using conference call you avoid the duplication of information with the different clients and services.

Tags: Online Business, conference calls, voip, im, calls, business

source: economics.informbank.com

The Attacks of Israel Are Reaching Syria

Sun, 16 Jul 2006 12:56:10 GMT

Israeli military planes stroke for the first time the no man's land on the border between Lebanon and Syria, informed France press, relying in the Lebanese police. There are positions of the Syrian army in this region, informed Royters.

"It is very important to be known that our attacks were launched against bridges and other objects only in Lebanon. We didn`t bomb anything in Syria", said a speaker of the Israeli army.

Eighteen civil Lebanese, including eight children, were burned alive on the 15th of July during an Israeli bombing against a column of running people from a village in South Lebanon, announced France press, relying on the UN and medical sources. A rescue team found 13 bodies. Before that had been found the charred bodies of a father and his four children.

The Russian minister of defence Sergei Ivanov stated that the conflict in the Near East is a war indeed, that has already started and that more countries could be dragged into this growing violence.

The Islami group Hezbollah has to stop using teroristic methods, including attacks against neighbour countries, stated Ivanov before the official opening of the meeting of G-8 in Saint Petersburg. The minister appealed to the two countries in the conflict to calm the situation down fast, to manifest self-control and cautiousness and to value the consequences of their acts.

Today it became clear that the Lebanese prime-minister Fuad Signora had promised to strengthen the government control over the whole territory of the country, giving a signal that he's going to put an end of the autonomy of Hezbollah in the southern regions, which is one of the main demands of Israel, informed Associated press. However, the prime-minister insisted first the UN to cause pressure for declaring peace, which will stop the war campaign of Israel in the country.

"We will work for strengthening the state control over all the territories in South Lebanon in cooperation with the UN and for restoring the full state authority over these territories", stated Signori in a TV announcement to the nation.

Meanwhile Israel warned the Lebanese army not to shoot against Israeli airplanes, which are taking part in a war campaign against the radical Palestinian movement, informed Royters. On Friday Lebanese army parts had shot against an Israeli airplane above the Lebanese sea-shores, but they had missed.

"Until now Israel had restrained itself from actions against the Lebanese army but the country won't hesitate to strike against anyone who acts against it", said a speaker of the Israeli army.

Tags: political news, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, war, Hezbollah

source: economics.informbank.com

Small business marketing ideas and strategies

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 15:04:11 GMT

When you are about to start a small business you should take into consideration how you could enlarge it. Here come the small business marketing ideas that I am going to mention below. Marketing is all about satisfying customer needs.

First of all you have to make a full analysis to identify your position in the market and to make a clear review of your opportunities. Then, when you have your position you have to view the supply and the demand in your area of interest or in other words - who are your customers and your main competitors. A good research is always a plus.

Modern technologies and the internet can make your business grow rapidly. This is maybe one of the most important things in small business marketing - internet advertising. There a few things you have to remember - you should pick your keywords and key phrases very well to introduce your company to the market. Your website should be well introduced to the audience by the top search engines, and you can also do the "pay per click" strategy in order to increase your visitors. Your website should present everything your company does and also it should catch the eye. You should have in mind user's time. You should reduce distractions like complex backgrounds, graphics and try to provide only valuable content. Keep your text content as short and concise as possible on each page, many users do not scroll entire screens before they click to a new topic area. See what your competition looks like before starting your site and determine how your site can be a better alternative. Make flexible ordering options. Online ordering is desirable for some but not all. Describe other ways of placing an order for your product, e.g. printing online form and mailing, faxing online form... Establish a credit card payment option for clients. Publish a newsletter for customers and prospects.

Next is advertising in the media - newspapers, television, radio, magazines.

Now when you have established your company and have your customers you have to take the next step of small business marketing by making your customers by more from you. There are several ways to do this:

1. Buy 2, get 1 free - Make your customers buy in bulk.

2. Make a "HOT" offer that they could not resist to. An example is "if you buy this you get a discount on the other product if order in 10 minutes". Announce free or special offers in your direct response pieces. (Direct responses may be direct mail, broadcast fax, or e-mail messages.) Include the offer in the beginning of the message and also on the outside of the envelope for direct mail.

Also make your clients buy more often from you. Make them discounts for frequent customers so that they are better off to make business with you.

Use economies of scale. Produce more so that you minimize your costs. Use economies of scope so that you make a vertical integration.

Next but not last is the free stuff section. Put your logo on t-shirts, pens, cups organize kid events and thus win popularity. Create a poster or calendar to give away to customers and prospects.

Another small business marketing idea is about the look of your product. Make their outlook up-to-date with today’s fashion. Customers won't buy a product wrapped with grey paper with lousy white signs... make them like the wrapping then like the product. Offer a fancier/more expensive/faster/bigger version of your (or another existing) product or service.

There are millions of marketing ideas that can enlarge your small business and make you a leader in your area. You just have to think of something and if you can't - there are people who do it for money. They are not very cheap but they are worthy. With their experience and professional background they can do a lot for your small business. Go and try!

source: economics.informbank.com

The possible scenarios for Bulgaria's membership of the EU

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 10:25:00 GMT

Plan A is the most optimistic. It is the easiest and simplest option: Bulgaria joins the EU on 1st January, 2007 according to schedule, with no safeguard clauses, additional conditions and modifications. The government still hopes this scenario is possible.

Plan B: according to schedule but with modifications. Under this scenario Sofia receives its EU membership card on time but with one or two restrictive clauses. These are the so-called “small clauses”, which concern the internal market and the mutual recognition of decisions in the field of criminal law. There are two possibilities for their invocation: before accession of the country, on the basis of the monitoring findings; or in the first three years after accession if problems arise with the country`s membership.

Plan C: postponement until 2008. This scenario is possible in case the EU member states decide to apply the big safeguard clause, which provides for postponing the candidate country`s membership to January 1st, 2008, if they decide that the country is poorly prepared and may put at risk the interests of the community.

Plan D: postponement plus safeguard clauses. This is the worst-case scenario. Under it the candidate country will not only lose a whole year and join the EU on January 1st, 2008; it will also be restricted by one or two safeguard measures concerning the market and/or judicial system.

source: economics.informbank.com

Introduction Marketing Solutions

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 15:32:04 GMT

To sell a product you have to introduce information about it. This way you may convince the general public or corporate client to buy it.

Product advertising is an important part of the marketing mix. Its aim is to increase sales by making a product or service known to a wider audience, and by emphasising its positive qualities. A company can advertise in a variety of ways, depending on how much it wishes to spend and the size and type of audience it wishes to target. The different media for advertising include television, radio, newspapers, magazines, the Internet and direct mail. The design and organization of advertising campaigns is usually the job of an advertising agency.

Corporate advertising is not directly concerned with increasing sales of a particular product or service, but more with the brand image, or picture, a company wants to present to the public. Public relations (PR) for companies. Unusual advertising campaigns sometimes get extra publicity for the company by way of media reports about the campaign.

The business community relies on various media to provide news, information and data. The print media (newspapers, books and magazines) supply this in written form through the press (people who write for newspapers and magazines) and publishing companies, which produce them. Radio and television channels of stations produce and distribute audio and audio-visual programmes of broadcasts which cover the main events and developments in business. Recently there has been considerable expansion of multimedia businesses which provide integrated media services containing sound, pictures and text, accessed by audiences around the world through networks such as the Internet.

When the product is ready for sale the system is clear – put on the market and advertise in the way which will be more successful. A TV commercial generally consists of a short film sequence of between 30 and 60 seconds with an accompanying which includes a mixture of live recordings (what people actually say in the commercial), a voice-over (the voice of someone who does not appear on screen) and music and sound effects. Various techniques are used in commercials to convince the viewer of the value of the product of service that is being advertised. One of the most common of these is 'dramatisation' where a short story is developed around the product or service. The original ideas behind a commercial of this type are developed from a scenario, a written document that summarises the action, the atmosphere, the characters and the scene where the sequences of the commercial will be filmed. An artist then produces a storyboard, or series of pictures, to show how the commercial will look.

The print media is also a good idea. It is easy to get and it is more widespread. You have a choice what kind of print media to do. Nowadays the Internet commercials are one of the most prosperous and it's more comfortable just to click on your computer and see it in internet page.

It is important to introduce your product in the way the public will understand it. It can not instigate any questions, everything has to be clear.

source: economics.informbank.com

The power of monopoly in the USA - XIX-XX Century

Mon, 29 May 2006 19:26:14 GMT

In 1894 year began a strike in Chicago. They were fighting for better labor conditions a raise of their salary. The government set an investigation of the circumstances that lead to this strike. The workers believed in “the justice” and “independence” of the court. The evaluation that those judges gave to the strike was very different of what the workers hoped for. An example is the letter of William Taft : “An outrageous strike. The military should kill several people…, so the peace is restored. Only 6 people were killed…This is hardly enough to make an impression …”Taft is no ordinary man. Later in his life he was a very important man in the Supreme court, and in 1909 year he became the president of the USA.

Those kind of strikes are not an isolated case. The speed with which the American capitalism developed, exceeded the one that was in England and France in the early 20th century. USA was the first country in industrial manufacture. The fast development of car manufacture, agricultural machine-building and other things needed a development in the way electric power was extracted. The precondition for the fast development of the manufacture is the fact that USA did not suffer from the devastating wars lead in Europe and also the harsh exploration of European and asian settlers. From 1870 till 1900 year in the USA came 14 million people.

In the early 20th century came into existence the monopoly as capitalism. In 1904 year the big capitalist alliances in USA produced ¾ of the whole industrial production in the country. The most powerful monopoly were the petroleum trust of Rockfeler who loved to say: “God send me to this world to make money.” The capitalist Morgan was also a vivid person , who began his career as journalist, in the beginning of the 20th century he was a banker owned the principal metallurgical companies in USA. But the monopoly in USA did not participate in the capture of the colonies in Asia and Africa because at that time they were already distributed. Countries like USA, Germany and Japan, in which the capitalism grows , prepared to distribute the colonial world through out wars that they provoked.

The monopolists subordinated even the state power. In USA the system is based on two parties - democrats and republicans, which changed in governing the country. But during elections there were played such performances so they can win the public opinion and in the end all they said to defend democracy was really fast forgotten. In the end of the 19th century, in the beginning of imperialism, an American millionaire admitted : “ There is no matter from which party is in power or which president rules…We are rich and govern America.”

source: economics.informbank.com

The world's economic crisis

Sat, 27 May 2006 19:06:04 GMT

The crisis began in the autumn of 1929 year. It is time of overproducing and low purchasing power. Most sever is the crisis in the USA. For 3 years production in USA reduced by half. The production of cars reduced 12 times. In about 50 years this is the fifth crisis in the capitalist world. In October 1930 year “New York Times” wrote: “people stand and wait, almost like forever, they wait for soup, work…, knowing that tomorrow they will wait again.” In the beginning of 1933 year there were 17mil. people unemployed in the USA, and those who worked were hired for 1 or 3 days at most. Those people and their families were almost the half of USA`s population. The crisis reached also the farm, the prices of agricultural production suddenly fell. For the farmers it was better to burn the corn than to sale it. During 1933 year the USA government started destroying animals and agricultural production, because they thought that this way the prices will raise.

The economic crises reached England, France and Germany. In England in 1931 year the unemployed were 3 million people. In France the crises lasted till 1936 year. The industry in Italy fell to 30%. German industry was loaded up to 30-35% of its limits. The quantity of unemployed during 1932 year reached 9 million people. In the beginning of 1933 year the economic crisis was in its peak. The capitalist world began to overcome this crisis really slow, but in 1937 year in the USA began a new economic crisis.

source: economics.informbank.com

Bird flu effect on the economy

Fri, 26 May 2006 17:23:40 GMT

I come from Bulgaria, so I saw the effect of the bird flu on the economy in a country where no man got sick. The prices of the chicken meat fell drastically, everyone stopped consuming it and its export was forbidden by the other countries. And was the bird flu actually so dangerous, as they tried to present it? In a country as China, which has a population that is about 1/6 of the world's population or 1,2 billion people, only 1200 people died. Yes, but the bird flu seriously distracted their economy. And why was the panic so huge since a person couldn't get sick by eating the meat? Why did the media make it such a great probem? Every day thousands of people die of heart attack and why aren't there then everyday announcements against the consumption of Mc Donalds, Dunkin Donuts, Burger King etc.? Because this would harm also the interests of western countries...

The bird flu is only a means to influence Chinese economy and I believe that it wasn't even planned to reach Europe. Why would I write the word "planned", because I really believe that the bird flu is an idea of the West which is trying to slower down the economic prosperity of the East and especially of China. If China continues to develope so fast, in 20 years it will be the most powerful country in the world and that's a fact, which everybody knows.

I saw what a small problem like bird flu could do to the economy of a state and there is absolutely no doubt that it is a plan of some sick minds.

All this can hurt the world's economy (especially the poor countries). This video below (provided by First Business Morning News) explains some of the possble affects of the bird flu on the business:
source: economics.informbank.com

Immigration in USA

Wed, 24 May 2006 20:21:19 GMT

As it comes to the USA and the living there, most of the people imagine a life without problems, limits and inequality, full of wealth and fulfilled dreams. This is what most of the people planning to emigrate for the USA think. This is the dream of every emigrant. This is what makes the number of the immigrants in the USA very high, despite the green cards.

This is how the emigrants in the USA get into the reality, but it’s not like in their dreams. The work is much, so much, that the people seem to forget their real human values. One is too busy to increase one’s capital, to prove and to compete with the others. Every single second in the USA is money and everyone is in a hurry.

Actually the problem with the many emigrants is in the countries, where they come from. These countries lose young, working, educated people who would be a great potential for the local economies. What problems would the USA have with so many emigrants in it? Well, the answer is simple – organizational and structural. Gradually, the interests and the investments lose frame, many economical problems appear.

Here come the very important questions as national identity, independence and especially security for the American citizens.

source: economics.informbank.com